Industrial Structure of Affordable Mortgage Lending

This article examines trends in prime-market mortgage lending to low- and moderate-income families and to families living in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-defined underserved areas (affordable lending). It also examines how economic conditions and several aspects of the organizati...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of housing research 2001-01, Vol.12 (2), p.239-276
Main Authors: Nothaft, Frank E., Surette, Brian J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affordable housing
Bank loans
Banking sector
Commercial banks
Comparative studies
Credit
Economic conditions
Federal regulation
Finance
Home loans
Home ownership
Housing
Housing market
Housing policy
Housing prices
Lenders
Lending
Loans
Low income
Market shares
Median family income
Median income
Minorities
Mortgage companies
Mortgage loans
Mortgages
Poor
Regulation
Subsidiary companies
Unemployment rates
United States
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article examines trends in prime-market mortgage lending to low- and moderate-income families and to families living in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-defined underserved areas (affordable lending). It also examines how economic conditions and several aspects of the organizational structure of the mortgage industry, such as lender size and market concentration, affect affordable lending. During the 1990s affordable lending in the prime market was increasingly done by mortgage company subsidiaries of depositories. Savings institutions and independent mortgage companies provided a declining fraction of all affordable loans. Across most institution types, we find that (1) origination volume is negatively related to affordable lending, though there are offsetting positive relationships among very large depositories; (2) affordable lending is probably procyclical; and (3) affordable lending is positively related to market concentration among certain institution types (savings institutions and both independent and depository-affiliated mortgage companies). The latter result is consistent with the conclusion that legislative efforts have been successful in increasing the amount of affordable lending.
ISSN:1052-7001