A new report from SmartAsset.com determined the counties in the Garden State where homebuyers are most likely to be approved for a mortgage.

Many NJ mortgages are still in trouble
Many NJ mortgages are still in trouble
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The rankings are part of a bigger study on the best mortgage markets across the country.

The counties were ranked according to loan funding rate, which is the ratio of mortgage applications to mortgages approved.

Morris County topped the list at 64.9 percent, followed by Somerset (63.8 percent), Hunterdon (63.7 percent), Cape May (63.3 percent), Mercer (61.9 percent), Monmouth (61.6 percent), Bergen (61.3 percent), Burlington (60.7 percent), Gloucester (60.7 percent), and Ocean (60.1 percent).

Hudson County finished among NJ's counties at 54.8 percent.

"The top 10 for New Jersey all had loan funding rates above 60 percent, which is really a very high number," said AJ Smith, SmartAsset Managing Editor/VP Content Strategy. "The state average is 59.66 percent, and nationally 58.69 percent of mortgage applications are turning into actual mortgages."

Smith said several criteria play into the higher loan funding rate.

"Things like higher income, better credit scores," she explained. "Those types of things can make you more attractive to the mortgage lenders."

The loan funding rates are one piece of the puzzle that SmartAsset used to find the best mortgage markets in the US.

"We looked at loan funding rate, borrowing cost, property tax, and mortgage payments," Smith said.

A map of the top markets can be found here.

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