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Financial Technology and the 1990s Housing Boom

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Abstract

The 1990s rollout of mortgage automated underwriting systems allowed for complex underwriting rules, cut processing time and raised house prices substantially. We show that locations exposed to initial adopters of Freddie Mac’s Loan Prospector system experienced an early housing boom due to a switch to statistically-informed underwriting rules. Loan Prospector adoption increased lending at high loan-to-income ratios by around 18 percent. Applying our estimated response to lenders who adopted later, we find that the rollout of new lending standards with the GSEs’ systems can explain more than half of U.S. house price growth between 1993 and 2002.

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  • Stephanie Johnson & Nitzan Tzur-Ilan, 2025. "Financial Technology and the 1990s Housing Boom," Working Papers 2506, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:feddwp:99619
    DOI: 10.24149/wp2506
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    1. Dokko, Jane K. & Keys, Benjamin J. & Relihan, Lindsay, 2019. "Affordability, financial innovation and the start of the housing boom," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101017, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • L85 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Real Estate Services
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets

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