Tables are in Portable Document Format (PDF).

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) today announced the availability of data for the year 2001 regarding mortgage lending transactions at 7,631 financial institutions covered by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) in metropolitan areas throughout the nation. These data include disclosure statements for each financial institution, aggregate data for each metropolitan area, and nationwide summary statistics regarding lending patterns. A fact sheet and the nationwide summary statistics are attached to this press release; the following provides a general overview.

The FFIEC prepares and distributes the individual disclosure statements and the aggregate reports on behalf of its member agencies - the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Reserve Board, National Credit Union Administration, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Office of Thrift Supervision - and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Lenders are required to make the disclosure statements available at their home offices within three business days of receiving the statements. In addition, for other metropolitan areas in which they have offices, lenders must either make a copy of the statements available at one branch per metropolitan area or provide a copy upon written request. The disclosure statements and aggregate reports are now available for public inspection at central depositories throughout the nation.

The HMDA data cover home purchase and home improvement loans and contain information about loan originations, loan purchases, and applications that did not result in a loan. The 2001 data include a total of 28 million reported loans and applications, which is an increase of about 44 percent from 2000 primarily due to a significant increase in refinancing activity (approximately 119 percent) (Table 1).

The number of home purchase loans extended in 2001 compared with 2000 varied by race and ethnicity. From 2000 to 2001, the number of such loans increased 8 percent for Hispanics, 4 percent for Asians, and 1 percent for whites. Over the same period, home purchase lending to blacks fell by 7 percent. The data show that lending to Native Americans fell by 39 percent from 2000 to 2001; virtually all of this apparent decline in 2001, however, can be attributed to overreporting of the number of loans to Native Americans for 2000. Overreporting of lending to Native Americans may have existed in the years immediately preceding 2000 as well. The overreporting in 2000 appears to have involved only a few lenders and a relatively small number of loans; but, because the volume of lending to Native Americans is not large, compared with the overall home purchase lending market, the resulting changes appear large in percentage terms.

From 1993 to 2001, the annual number of home purchase loans to Hispanics rose 158 percent; to Native Americans, 28 percent; to blacks, 76 percent; to Asians, 92 percent; and to whites, 26 percent. (The period 1993 to 2001 is used because HMDA coverage was expanded in 1993 to include significantly more independent mortgage companies than previously had been covered under HMDA.) Refer to Table 7, attached, for year-to-year changes during the period 1993 to 2001.

The annual number of home purchase loans to all income groups increased modestly from 2000 to 2001, with middle-income applicants enjoying the largest increase. Low-income applicants (with incomes less than 80 percent of the median for the metropolitan area) experienced an increase of 2 percent; moderate-income applicants (with incomes 80-99 percent of the median), 3 percent; middle-income applicants (with incomes 100-119 percent of the median), 4 percent; and upper-income applicants (120 percent or more above the median), 2 percent. During the 1993 to 2001 period, the number of home purchase loans to low-income applicants increased by 82 percent; to moderate-applicants, 53 percent; to middle-income applicants, 46 percent; and to upper-income applicants, 60 percent. Refer to Table 7 for year-to-year changes during the period.

In 2001, the denial rates for conventional home purchase loans fell for the third consecutive year, after rising for most of the past decade (Table 3). In 1993, the overall denial rate for conventional home purchase loans was 17 percent; by 1998 this rate had increased to 29 percent. The denial rate in 1999 fell to 28 percent; and fell to 27 percent in 2000. In 2001, the denial rate was down to 21 percent. All ethnic and racial groups experienced lower denial rates in 2001 as compared with 2000, but denial rates continue to vary among racial and ethnic groups. In 2001, the denial rates for conventional home purchase loans were as follows: for black applicants, 36 percent; for Native American applicants, 35 percent; for Hispanic applicants, 23 percent; for white applicants, 16 percent; and for Asian applicants, 11 percent.

From 1993 to 2001, the proportion of home loan applications of all types with missing race or ethnicity data increased from 8 percent to 30 percent. Applications for home purchase loans without race or ethnicity information constituted 4 percent of the home purchase loan applications in 1993; by 2001, the proportion was 18 percent, and involved roughly 1 million applications. For home purchase loans originated, 13 percent lacked race or ethnicity data in 2001, up from 3 percent in 1993. Under HMDA, when an application is taken entirely by telephone, a lender is not required to collect information on an applicant's race or ethnicity and sex. For applications taken by mail or electronic means (such as by facsimile or the Internet), a lender must request the information, but an applicant is not required to provide it. The growth in the number of applications missing race or ethnicity information could complicate analyses of changes in home mortgage lending over time. The Federal Reserve recently published changes to Regulation C that require institutions to ask applicants their ethnicity, race, and sex in applications taken by telephone. This rule applies to all applications taken on or after January 1, 2003. 67 FR 43217 (June 27, 2002).

The HMDA data also include information on loans that are sold, showing the type of purchaser of the loan. Among other things, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) uses this information in assessing the performance of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in meeting their legislatively mandated affordable housing goals.

The location of the central depository for a metropolitan area can be obtained by calling the FFIEC at 202/872-7500. The FFIEC distributes the disclosure statements to institutions and central depositories in electronic form only. In addition, the FFIEC makes HMDA data directly available to the public in various formats, including magnetic tape and CD-ROM, and at the FFIEC web site: www.ffiec.gov/hmda/pubinfo.htm. Some data are available in paper form (tables for 2001 showing the nationwide aggregates and key demographic information for metropolitan areas, for instance).

An order form can be obtained by calling 202/452-2016 (an automated response system) and selecting menu options 4 and then 1, or by faxing a request for an order form to 202/452-6497. The order form, which gives descriptions of the various reports, prices, and formats, is also available at the FFIEC web site. Advance orders will be filled when the data become available.

The FFIEC also provides data from the nation's seven private mortgage insurance (PMI) companies. The 2001 PMI data include information on approximately 2 million applications for mortgage insurance; about 1 million applications were to insure home purchase mortgages, and about 0.9 million were to insure mortgages to refinance existing obligations. By late July, these data will be available at individual PMI companies, at the central depositories in each metropolitan area, and from the FFIEC in the same types of reports and in the same formats as the HMDA data.

Questions about a HMDA report for a specific lender should be directed to the lender's supervisory agency at the number listed below:

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation - 800/934-3342;
hearing impaired - 202/942-3147 or 800/925-4618

Federal Reserve Board, HMDA Assistance Line - 202/452-2016

National Credit Union Administration, Office of Examination - 703/518-6360
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Compliance Division - 202/874-4428

Office of Thrift Supervision, Consumer Programs - 202/906-6315
Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Housing - 202/755-7530.

Attachments:

• Fact Sheet on 2001 Data (with Tables) (Note: Tables are in PDF)
• HMDA Data Order Forms and Item Descriptions ( PDF)