This article is the winner of the Real Estate Finance manuscript prize (sponsored by Fannie Mae Foundation) presented at the 2001 American Real Estate Society Annual Meeting. Studies of mortgage termination decisions typically rely on a competing risks framework comparing defaults and...

Standard practice in the residential mortgage underwriting industry is to estimate collateral values via independent appraisals conducted by third parties. This paper empirically examines the role of property value ("i.e.", appraisal) uncertainty as a determinant of default on residential...

Conventional wisdom in the mortgage industry holds that loan-to-value (LTV) ratios are positively correlated with mortgage default rates. However, not all empirical studies of mortgage loan performance support this view. This paper offers a theoretical signaling model of why the correlation...