IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jpamgt/v28y2009i3p340-365.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Policy incentives and the extension of mortgage credit: Increasing market discipline for subprime lending

Author

Listed:
  • Xudong An

    (Assistant Professor, Department of Finance, College of Business Administration, San Diego State University)

  • Raphael W. Bostic

    (Professor, School of Policy, Planning, and Development and the Lusk Center for Real Estate, University of Southern California)

Abstract

The lax underwriting in non-prime mortgage markets is widely perceived as one cause of the recent difficulties in the housing market. Policymakers are currently considering moves such as enforcing more careful underwriting to provide additional discipline to mortgage markets. This research explores the possibility of another approach to supplement or replace some of these efforts, namely the use of policy to create incentives for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (together, the GSEs) to help “check” behavior in non-prime markets. The hypothesis is that the GSE Act affordable housing goals have increased GSE focus on targeted loan purchases, which in turn has led prime market lenders to compete more aggressively for borrowers on the margin between prime and subprime credit quality. As a consequence, these marginal borrowers will be more inclined to take prime mortgages rather than higher-cost subprime loans. We test this hypothesis and find empirical support for it. We observe a negative relationship between the growth in GSE market share and the growth in subprime market share over time, and find that the impact of the GSEs on subprime lending tends to be stronger in high-minority neighborhoods, where subprime lending has been concentrated and growing the fastest. Simulations show that a 10 percent increase in GSE market share (for example, from 20 to 22 percent) can cause 45,000 borrowers using prime instead of subprime loans a cost savings of about $1.7 billion. These results suggest that the GSEs, regardless of their postconservatorship form, should continue to devote attention to serving underserved populations and suggest that significant welfare benefits will accrue. © 2009 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

Suggested Citation

  • Xudong An & Raphael W. Bostic, 2009. "Policy incentives and the extension of mortgage credit: Increasing market discipline for subprime lending," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 340-365.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:28:y:2009:i:3:p:340-365
    DOI: 10.1002/pam.20436
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/pam.20436
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/pam.20436?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonathan Hershaff & Karl Russo & Susan M. Wachter, 2005. "Subprime lending: neighborhood patterns over time," Proceedings 954, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    2. Bostic, Raphael W. & Gabriel, Stuart A., 2006. "Do the GSEs matter to low-income housing markets? An assessment of the effects of the GSE loan purchase goals on California housing outcomes," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 458-475, May.
    3. Marsha J. Courchane & Brian J. Surette & Peter M. Zorn, 2004. "Subprime Borrowers: Mortgage Transitions and Outcomes," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 365-392, December.
    4. Paul S. Calem & Kevin Gillen & Susan Wachter, 2004. "The Neighborhood Distribution of Subprime Mortgage Lending," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 393-410, December.
    5. Kathleen C. Engel & Patricia A. McCoy, 2001. "The law and economics of remedies of predatory lending," Proceedings 790, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    6. Keith D. Harvey & Peter J. Nigro, 2004. "Do Predatory Lending Laws Influence Mortgage Lending? An Analysis of the North Carolina Predatory Lending Law," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 435-456, December.
    7. Brent W. Ambrose & Michael LaCour‐Little & Anthony B. Sanders, 2004. "The Effect of Conforming Loan Status on Mortgage Yield Spreads: A Loan Level Analysis," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 32(4), pages 541-569, December.
    8. Elizabeth Renuart, 2004. "An overview of the predatory mortgage lending process," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 467-502.
    9. Ambrose, Brent W. & Thibodeau, Thomas G., 2004. "Have the GSE affordable housing goals increased the supply of mortgage credit?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 263-273, May.
    10. Joseph Nichols & Anthony Pennington-Cross & Anthony Yezer, 2004. "Borrower Self-Selection, Underwriting Costs, and Subprime Mortgage Credit Supply," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 197-219, November.
    11. Souphala Chomsisengphet & Anthony Pennington-Cross, 2006. "The evolution of the subprime mortgage market," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 88(Jan), pages 31-56.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dwight Jaffee & John M. Quigley, 2012. "The Future of the Government-Sponsored Enterprises: The Role for Government in the U.S. Mortgage Market," NBER Chapters, in: Housing and the Financial Crisis, pages 361-417, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Levitin, Adam & Wachter, Susan, 2012. "Explaining the Housing Bubble," MPRA Paper 41920, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Ashlyn Aiko Nelson, 2010. "Credit scores, race, and residential sorting," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 39-68.
    4. Jonathan Spader & Roberto Quercia, 2012. "CRA Lending in a Changing Context: Evidence of Interaction with FHA and Subprime Originations," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 505-525, May.

    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. Xudong An & Raphael W. Bostic, 2006. "Have the Affordable Housing Goals been a Shield against Subprime? Regulatory Incentives and the Extension of Mortgage Credit," Working Paper 8572, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.
    2. Xudong An & Raphael Bostic, 2008. "GSE Activity, FHA Feedback, and Implications for the Efficacy of the Affordable Housing Goals," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 207-231, February.
    3. W. Scott Frame & Lawrence J. White, 2009. "Technological change, financial innovation, and diffusion in banking," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2009-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    4. Danis, Michelle A. & Pennington-Cross, Anthony, 2008. "The delinquency of subprime mortgages," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 60(1-2), pages 67-90.
    5. Giang Ho & Anthony Pennington-Cross, 2005. "The impact of local predatory lending laws," Working Papers 2005-049, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    6. Anthony Pennington‐Cross & Giang Ho, 2008. "Predatory Lending Laws and the Cost of Credit," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 36(2), pages 175-211, June.
    7. Jevgenijs Steinbuks & Gregory Elliehausen, 2014. "The Economic Effects of Legal Restrictions on High-Cost Mortgages," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 47-72, July.
    8. Neil Bhutta, 2009. "Regression discontinuity estimates of the effects of the GSE act of 1992," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2009-03, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    9. Olsen, Edgar O. & Zabel, Jeffrey E., 2015. "US Housing Policy," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 887-986, Elsevier.
    10. Jonathan Spader & Roberto Quercia, 2012. "CRA Lending in a Changing Context: Evidence of Interaction with FHA and Subprime Originations," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 505-525, May.
    11. Gerardi Kristopher & Willen Paul, 2009. "Subprime Mortgages, Foreclosures, and Urban Neighborhoods," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(3), pages 1-37, March.
    12. Patrick Bayer & Fernando Ferreira & Stephen L. Ross, 2018. "What Drives Racial and Ethnic Differences in High-Cost Mortgages? The Role of High-Risk Lenders," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(1), pages 175-205.
    13. Dror Parnes, 2023. "Typical States and Their Risks for Mortgage Loans," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 21(2), pages 395-415, June.
    14. Jonathan Spader, 2010. "Beyond Disparate Impact: Risk-based Pricing and Disparity in Consumer Credit History Scores," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 37(2), pages 61-78, June.
    15. Stephen L. Ross, 2005. "The Continuing Practice and Impact of Discrimination," Working papers 2005-19, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised Jul 2006.
    16. Goodman, Allen C. & Smith, Brent C., 2010. "Residential mortgage default: Theory works and so does policy," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 280-294, December.
    17. Ho, Giang & Pennington-Cross, Anthony, 2006. "The impact of local predatory lending laws on the flow of subprime credit," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 210-228, September.
    18. Andra C. Ghent & Rubén Hernández-Murillo & Michael T. Owyang, 2015. "Did Affordable Housing Legislation Contribute to the Subprime Securities Boom?," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 43(4), pages 820-854, November.
    19. Alex Kaufman, 2012. "The influence of Fannie and Freddie on mortgage loan terms," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2012-33, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    20. Brent C Smith & Kenneth N. Daniels, 2018. "Unintended Consequences of Risk Based Pricing: Racial Differences in Mortgage Costs," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 54(3), pages 323-343, December.

    More about this item

    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:wly:jpamgt:v:28:y:2009:i:3:p:340-365. 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: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/34787/home .

    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.