Mortgage Market Conditions and Borrower Outcomes: Evidence from the 2012 HMDA Data and Matched HMDA--Credit Record Data

Abstract

This article describes mortgage lending activity in 2012 based on newly available data reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 (HMDA). It also examines a new data set composed of HMDA records matched to borrowers? credit records. The matched data help document differences in the financial circumstances (credit scores and debt-to-income ratios) and subsequent loan performance of borrowers grouped by their race or ethnicity and income. The data also provide insight both into the potential for differential effects of the new qualified mortgage rules on access to credit across groups and into the role of the Community Reinvestment Act in the financial crisis.