LendingPatterns™ will very shortly have the 2015 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data in place. But for now, the Federal Reserve has released a broad-brush analysis of the database.
The article, by Neil Bhutta and Daniel R. Ringo of the Fed’s Division of Research and Statistics, reveals that 2015 HMDA statistics show a big jump in the number of mortgage originations made over 2014: 7.4 million versus 6.1 million. The total number of lenders reporting was nearly 7,000. The report does not give the dollar volume of originations, but I plan to do that in my next blog once 2015 HMDA is available on LendingPatterns.™
The article is forthcoming in the Federal Reserve Bulletin.
Home purchase originations led refinancings in 2015 but did not dominate. There were 3.7 million one-to-four-family purchase originations and 3.2 million single-family refis during the year. The balance of the mortgages was in the multifamily and manufactured housing categories.
Non-banks have reached a 50 percent share of single-family originations, 2015 HMDA data show. This was up a hefty three percentage points from 2014.
Blacks and Hispanic whites saw a bump in 1-to-4 family, owner-occupied, site-built purchase homes, with blacks taking a 5.5 percent share, up from 5.2 percent, while Hispanic whites got 8.3 percent of the loans, up from 7.9 percent. The low to moderate income (LMI) share increased to 28 percent from 27 percent.
While shares of single-family loans among blacks and Hispanic white increased year to year, they are down considerably from their highs. “We find that sharp reductions in lending to individuals with low credit scores can explain much of the decrease in black and Hispanic white market shares,” the authors write.
HMDA data also break out loans to American Indians/Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians and indigenous Pacific Islanders, but the Fed analysis lumps them all (plus multi-racial minorities) into an “other minorities” category. I will break out volumes for the two indigenous groups separately after I get them from LendingPatterns™.
Nonconventional lending (FHA/VA/RHS/FSA) rose from 36 percent in 2014 to 39 percent last year, according to the article. “The rise in the nonconventional share in 2015 reflects an increase in FHA lending after the FHA significantly reduced the annual mortgage insurance premium (MIP) it charges borrowers,” the authors write.
In terms of dollar values of purchase loans, minority trends vary, the article finds.
“The average home-purchase loan to a Hispanic white borrower in 2015 was for $209,000, up from $198,000 in 2014 but still well below the peak of $238,000 in 2006. In contrast, the average home-purchase loan amount for a non-Hispanic white borrower was about $239,000 in 2015, higher than the pre-crisis peak in 2007 of about $222,000. Asian borrowers took out the largest loans, averaging $360,000 for home purchases and $363,000 for refinancings in 2015, whereas loans to black borrowers averaged $209,000 for home purchases and $199,000 for refinancings.”
Jumbo mortgages made a robust showing in 2015, at 17.3 percent of purchase loans and 16.8 percent of refis. Most of these loans are held in portfolio, the authors write.
(Mark Fogarty is a journalist and analyst who has been covering the mortgage industry for more than 30 years.)
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