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Discussion Paper
Changing FHA Mortgage Insurance Premiums and the Effects on Lending
This note explores the effect of changes in Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance premiums (MIP) on mortgage borrowing activity. Reacting to changing conditions in the mortgage market as well as the state of its own balance sheet, the FHA has adjusted its pricing rules a number of times in the wake of the financial crisis.
Journal Article
Residential Mortgage Lending in 2016: Evidence from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Data
This article provides an overview of the 2016 data reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 and analyzes mortgage market activity over time as well as lending patterns across different demographic groups and lender types. The number of home-purchase originations was about 10 percent higher in 2016 than in 2015, and the number of refinance loans was 16 percent higher. The increase in lending was broad based across demographic and income categories.
Journal Article
The 2013 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Data
This article provides an overview of the 2013 data reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 (HMDA) and documents mortgage market activity over time as well as lending patterns across different demographic groups and lender types. In addition, we use a unique data set composed of HMDA records matched to borrowers' credit records to reexamine the factors that might help explain the large differences in the incidence of higher-priced lending across borrowers of different races and ethnicities during the housing boom.
Working Paper
The Propagation of Demand Shocks Through Housing Markets
Housing demand stimulus produces a multiplier effect by freeing up owners attempting to sell their current home, allowing them to re-enter the market as buyers and triggering a chain of further transactions. Exploiting a shock to first-time home buyer demand caused by the 2015 surprise cut in Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance premiums, we find that homeowners buy their next home sooner when the probability of their current home selling increases. This effect is especially pronounced in cold housing markets, in which homes take a long time to sell. We build and calibrate a ...
Working Paper
Inframarginal Borrowers and the Mortgage Payment Channel of Monetary Policy
Despite the widespread use of fixed-rate mortgages in the United States, I show that monetary policy is effectively passed through to aggregate outstanding mortgage debt service. Using credit bureau, lender, and servicer data on mortgage payments and originations and exogenous monetary policy shocks, I estimate a mortgage rate semi-elasticity of payments over 10. Inframarginal borrowers---households whose choice to buy a home or refinance does not depend on the particular monetary policy decision under consideration---are the most important conduit, explaining over half of the pass-through. ...
Journal Article
Residential Mortgage Lending from 2004 to 2015: Evidence from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Data
This article provides an overview of the 2015 data reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 and analyzes mortgage market activity over time as well as lending patterns across different demographic groups and lender types. The number of home-purchase originations was about 13 percent higher in 2015 than in 2014, and the number of refinance loans was 36 percent higher. The increase in lending was broad based across demographic and income categories.
Discussion Paper
Are Rising Home Values Restraining Homebuying for Lower-Income Families?
Since bottoming out in 2012, house prices in the U.S. have recovered rapidly. According to Zillow, the median home value has been growing about 6 percent per year. While incomes have also been recovering, they have not quite kept pace with home prices. This note uses data reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), along with income data from the ACS, and house price data from Zillow, to explore whether families in such areas, particularly lower-income families, are being priced out of homeownership as a result.
Discussion Paper
The Decline in Lending to Lower-Income Borrowers by the Biggest Banks
Data collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) reveal that the largest banks have significantly reduced their share of mortgage lending to low- and moderate-income (LMI) households in recent years.
Working Paper
Volatility in Home Sales and Prices: Supply or Demand?
We use a housing search model and data on individual home listings to decompose fluctuations in home sales and price growth into supply or demand factors. Simulations of the estimated model show that housing demand drives short-run fluctuations in home sales and prices, while variation in supply plays only a limited role. We consider two implications of these results. First, we show that reduction of supply was a minor factor relative to increased demand in the tightening of housing markets during COVID-19. New for-sale listings would have had to expand 30 percent to keep the rate of price ...