Residential Mortgage Lending in 2016 : Evidence from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Data

This article presents findings from the HMDA data through 2016. The number of mortgage originations in 2016 rose 13 percent from 2015. Black and Hispanic white borrowers increased their share of home-purchase loans for the third straight year. The share of mortgages originated by nondepository, independent mortgage companies continued to rise in 2016. For the first time since at least 1995, nondepository, independent mortgage companies accounted for a majority of both refinance and home purchase originations. Finally, we assess HMDA's coverage of the mortgage market. The number of first-lien home-purchase and refinance loans reported in the 2016 HMDA data is approximately 90 percent of the number reported in consumer credit files. HMDA's coverage of junior lien mortgages appears to be much lower