IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/reesec/v49y2021i3p917-935.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Possible income misstatement on mortgage loan applications: Evidence from the Canadian housing market

Author

Listed:
  • Kiana Basiri
  • Babak Mahmoudi

Abstract

We construct a measure of possible income misstatement (PIM) for first‐time homebuyers by quantifying the gap between growth in incomes reported on mortgage applications and growth in incomes reported on tax files from 2004 to 2014 in Canada. Using a two‐stage least square framework to correct for the endogenous nature of house prices and PIM, we find robust evidence that part of the observed dispersion in PIM is caused by house price variation. This suggests borrowers have greater incentive to misstate income in high‐priced markets. We report evidence that markets with a tendency for income misstatement also had higher default rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Kiana Basiri & Babak Mahmoudi, 2021. "Possible income misstatement on mortgage loan applications: Evidence from the Canadian housing market," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(3), pages 917-935, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:reesec:v:49:y:2021:i:3:p:917-935
    DOI: 10.1111/1540-6229.12310
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-6229.12310
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1540-6229.12310?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Atif Mian & Amir Sufi, 2017. "Fraudulent Income Overstatement on Mortgage Applications During the Credit Expansion of 2002 to 2005," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(6), pages 1832-1864.
    2. Jason Allen & Robert Clark & Jean-François Houde, 2014. "Price Dispersion in Mortgage Markets," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(3), pages 377-416, September.
    3. Atif Mian & Amir Sufi, 2009. "The Consequences of Mortgage Credit Expansion: Evidence from the U.S. Mortgage Default Crisis," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1449-1496.
    4. Robert B. Avery & Neil Bhutta & Kenneth P. Brevoort & Glenn B. Canner, 2012. "The Mortgage Market in 2011: Highlights from the Data Reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), vol. 98(December), December.
    5. Tomasz Piskorski & Amit Seru & James Witkin, 2015. "Asset Quality Misrepresentation by Financial Intermediaries: Evidence from the RMBS Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(6), pages 2635-2678, December.
    6. Blackburn, McKinley L. & Vermilyea, Todd, 2012. "The prevalence and impact of misstated incomes on mortgage loan applications," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 151-168.
    7. Wei Jiang & Ashlyn Aiko Nelson & Edward Vytlacil, 2014. "Liar's Loan? Effects of Origination Channel and Information Falsification on Mortgage Delinquency," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(1), pages 1-18, March.
    8. Neil Bhutta & Jane Dokko & Hui Shan, 2017. "Consumer Ruthlessness and Mortgage Default during the 2007 to 2009 Housing Bust," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(6), pages 2433-2466, December.
    9. Brent W. Ambrose & James Conklin & Jiro Yoshida, 2016. "Credit Rationing, Income Exaggeration, and Adverse Selection in the Mortgage Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(6), pages 2637-2686, December.
    10. Itzhak Ben-David, 2011. "Financial Constraints and Inflated Home Prices during the Real Estate Boom," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 55-87, July.
    11. Andra C. Ghent & Marianna Kudlyak, 2011. "Recourse and Residential Mortgage Default: Evidence from US States 1," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(9), pages 3139-3186.
    12. John M. Griffin & Gonzalo Maturana, 2016. "Editor's Choice Who Facilitated Misreporting in Securitized Loans?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(2), pages 384-419.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Conklin, James N. & Frame, W. Scott & Gerardi, Kristopher & Liu, Haoyang, 2022. "Villains or scapegoats? The role of subprime borrowers in driving the U.S. housing boom," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    2. James N. Conklin & Moussa Diop & Thao Le & Walter D’Lima, 2019. "The Importance of Originator-Servicer Affiliation in Loan Renegotiation," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 56-89, July.
    3. Griffin, John M. & Kruger, Samuel & Maturana, Gonzalo, 2021. "What drove the 2003–2006 house price boom and subsequent collapse? Disentangling competing explanations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(3), pages 1007-1035.
    4. Atif Mian & Amir Sufi, 2017. "Fraudulent Income Overstatement on Mortgage Applications During the Credit Expansion of 2002 to 2005," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(6), pages 1832-1864.
    5. James Conklin & Moussa Diop & Mingming Qiu, 2022. "Religion and Mortgage Misrepresentation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 273-295, August.
    6. Griffin, John M. & Kruger, Samuel & Maturana, Gonzalo, 2019. "Do labor markets discipline? Evidence from RMBS bankers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(3), pages 726-750.
    7. Ronel Elul & Sebastian Tilson, 2015. "Owner occupancy fraud and mortgage performance," Working Papers 15-45, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    8. Rojas, Alejandro, 2021. "Mortgage credit growth for lower-income borrowers during the 2000s housing boom: Evidence and implications," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 220-233.
    9. Fatih Tuluk, 2021. "Collateral Misrepresentation, External Auditing, and Optimal Supervisory Policy," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 32(5), pages 975-1016, November.
    10. Yang, Ling, 2022. "An information quality-based explanation for loan loss allowance inadequacy during the 2008 financial crisis," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1).
    11. Zhenyu Gao & Michael Sockin & Wei Xiong, 2019. "Economic Consequences of Housing Speculation," NBER Working Papers 26457, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Samuel Kruger & Gonzalo Maturana, 2021. "Collateral Misreporting in the Residential Mortgage-Backed Security Market," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(5), pages 2729-2750, May.
    13. Deeksha Gupta, 2018. "Too Much Skin-in-the-Game? The Effect of Mortgage Market Concentration on Credit and House Prices," 2018 Meeting Papers 512, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    14. Manuel Adelino & Antoinette Schoar & Felipe Severino, 2015. "Loan Originations and Defaults in the Mortgage Crisis: Further Evidence," NBER Working Papers 21320, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Tomasz Piskorski & Amit Seru, 2018. "Mortgage Market Design: Lessons from the Great Recession," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 49(1 (Spring), pages 429-513.
    16. Oleksandr Talavera & Haofeng Xu, 2018. "Role of Verification in Peer-to-Peer Lending," Working Papers 2018-25, Swansea University, School of Management.
    17. repec:bin:bpeajo:v:49:y:2019:i:2018-01:p:429-513 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Luis Arturo Lopez & Shawn J. McCoy & Vivek Sah, 2022. "Steering consumers to lenders in residential real estate markets," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(6), pages 1596-1641, November.
    19. Christopher L. Foote & Lara Loewenstein & Paul S. Willen, 2018. "Technological Innovation in Mortgage Underwriting and the Growth in Credit: 1985-2015," Working Papers (Old Series) 1816, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    20. Slava Mikhed & Sahil Raina & Barry Scholnick & Man Zhang, 2022. "Debtor Fraud in Consumer Debt Renegotiation," Working Papers 22-35, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    21. Tim Zhang, 2022. "Uniform Mortgage Regulation and Distortion in Capital Allocation [Loan originations and defaults in the mortgage crisis: the role of the middle class]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(4), pages 1011-1050.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
    • R28 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Government Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:reesec:v:49:y:2021:i:3:p:917-935. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/areueea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.