An initial release of calendar year 2017 public HMDA data is now available. Historically not made available until early fall of the following year, these data were released in early May.
However, it should be noted that unlike past years, the HMDA loan-level data made available to the public will not remain static, but will be updated, on an ongoing basis, to reflect late submissions and resubmissions. The data now available reflects data as of April 18, 2018. The data can be accessed as follows:
National data:
https://ffiec.cfpb.gov/data-publication/snapshot-national-loan-level-dataset
For an individual institution:
https://ffiec.cfpb.gov/data-publication/modified-lar
Highlights From the FFIEC
There are a few caveats to always note regarding the public HMDA. First, the 2017 HMDA data use the census tract delineations, population, and housing characteristic data from the 2011–2015 American Community Survey (ACS). This is a departure from past years when the most recent decennial census data have been used. In addition, the data reflect MSA definitions released by the Office of Management and Budget in 2015 that became effective for HMDA purposes in 2016.
It is, therefore, critical that users be aware of this when comparing HMDA data across multiple years for specific geographic areas due to the changes in MSA and census tract boundaries and updates to the population and housing characteristics of census tracts that followed the decennial census and five-year updates based on the ACS data.
The total number of originated loans of all types and purposes decreased by more than 1 million between 2016 and 2017, or 12.4 percent. Refinance originations decreased by more than 33 percent, and home purchase lending increased by more than 4 percent.
From 2016 to 2017, the share of first-lien home purchase loans for 1–4 family, site-built, owner-occupied properties made to low- and moderate-income borrowers (those with income of less than 80 percent of area median income) rose slightly from 26.2 percent to 26.3 percent, and the share of refinance loans to low- and moderate-income borrowers increased from 16.9 percent to 22.9 percent.
In terms of borrower race and ethnicity, the share of home purchase loans for 1–4 family properties made to black borrowers rose from 6.0 percent in 2016 to 6.4 percent in 2017, the share made to Hispanic-white borrowers remained unchanged at 8.8 percent, and those made to Asian borrowers rose from 5.5 percent to 5.8 percent. From 2016 to 2017, the share of refinance loans made to black borrowers increased from 5.0 percent to 6.0 percent, the share made to Hispanic-white borrowers increased from 6.2 percent to 6.8 percent, and those made to Asian borrowers fell from 5.5 percent to 4.0 percent.
In 2017, black and Hispanic-white applicants experienced higher denial rates for conventional home purchase loans than non-Hispanic white applicants. The denial rate for Asian applicants is more comparable to the denial rate for non-Hispanic white applicants. These relationships are similar to those found in earlier years and, due to the limitations of the HMDA data discussed above, cannot take into account potential differences in risk characteristics across demographic groups.
The FHA-insured share of first-lien home purchase loans for 1–4 family, site-built owner-occupied properties declined from 25.0 percent in 2016 to 22.6 percent in 2017. The VA-guaranteed share of such loans remained at approximately 10 percent in 2017. The overall government-backed share of such purchase loans, including FHA, VA, RHS, and FSA loans, was 36.3 percent in 2017, down slightly from 38.7 percent in 2016.
The FHA-insured share of first-lien refinance mortgages for 1–4 family, site-built owner-occupied properties increased to 13.2 percent in 2017 from 12.0 percent in 2016, while the VA-guaranteed share of such refinance loans decreased from 12.2 percent in 2016 to 11.4 percent in 2017.
The share of mortgages originated by nondepository, independent mortgage companies has increased sharply in recent years. In 2017, this group of lenders accounted for 56.1 percent of first-lien owner-occupied home-purchase loans, up from 53.3 percent in 2016. Independent mortgage companies also originated 55.8 percent of first-lien owner-occupied refinance loans, an increase from 52.2 percent in 2016, which was the first year in which independent mortgage companies made the majority of such loans since at least 1995.
Nationwide Summary Statistics
For those interested in summary statistics for the U.S., the CFPB has produced a summary report highlighting trends and facts from the data.
This report can be accessed:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/bcfp_hmda_2017-mortgage-market-activity-trends_report.pdf
