Tables are in Portable Document Format (PDF).

The following nationwide summary statistics are based on data compiled by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFEIC) for institutions covered by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.(** - see below)

The Data

For 1999, the FFIEC prepared 56,966 disclosure statements for 7,833 lenders, with a separate statement for each metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in which a lender has an office or is deemed to have one under Regulation C (table 1). The data reflect the lending activity of 4,028 commercial banks, 728 savings associations, 1,691 credit unions, and 1,386 mortgage companies, of which 1,103 were independent entities.

Applications Received and Loans Made

In 1999, these lenders acted on 19.9 million applications for home purchase loans, home improvement loans, and refinancings (compared with 21.4 million in 1998), and they purchased 3.0 million loans (compared with 3.2 million in 1998). The total volume of reported home loan applications and purchases (22.9 million) decreased 7.1 percent from 1998, primarily due to a 17.8 percent decrease in the number of refinancing applications and loans, partially offset by an increase of 6.6 percent in the number of home purchase applications and loans.

Loan Programs and Changes in Lending Volume by Race and Income

Lending institutions tend to specialize in different types of home loans. For example, among home purchase loan originations, mortgage companies tend to do most of the government-backed lending. Commercial banks, on the other hand, do most of the home improvement and multifamily lending.

Some groups are more likely than others to apply for certain types of home loans (table 2). For example, in 1999, 31.2 percent of Hispanic applicants and 24.0 percent of black applicants for home purchase loans sought government-backed mortgages; the comparable figures for whites, Native Americans, and Asians were 13.9 percent, 11.5 percent, and 9.9 percent, respectively. Moreover, 24.2 percent of home purchase loan applicants with incomes less than 80 percent of the median family income for their MSAs applied for government backed loans; by contrast, 9.6 percent of applicants with incomes of at least 120 percent of the median applied for such loans.

Taking conventional and government-backed home purchase lending together, lending to all racial and ethnic groups increased from 1998 to 1999. Lending to Native Americans increased 44.4 percent during this period; lending to Hispanics, Asians, blacks, and whites increased 18.3 percent, 16.3 percent, 11.1 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively (table 7).

The number of home purchase loans extended to applicants in all income categories also increased in 1999 compared with the prior year. The number of such loans extended in 1999 to applicants with incomes less than 80 percent of the MSA median increased 13.7 percent over 1998. During the same period, loans extended to applicants with incomes 80-99 percent of the median, 100-119 percent of the median, and 120 percent or more of the median increased 6.8 percent, 4.7 percent, and 4.0 percent, respectively.

A significant minority of home purchase loan applications in 1999 was for government-backed loans; the majority was for conventional (non-government backed) loans (tables 6 and 7). The number of government-backed home purchase loans extended to Hispanics increased 14.0 percent from 1998 to 1999; over the same period the number of such loans extended to Asians, blacks, Native Americans, and whites increased 11.7 percent, 9.2 percent, 5.0 percent, and 3.0 percent, respectively. The number of such loans extended to applicants with incomes less than 80 percent of the MSA median increased 11.5 percent from 1998 to 1999, compared with 7.9 percent, 7.2 percent, and 4.4 percent over the same period for applicants with incomes 80-99 percent, 100-119 percent, and 120 percent or more of the median, respectively (table 6).

Conventional home purchase lending was also higher in 1999 compared with 1998, as the number of conventional home purchase loans increased 59.1 percent to Native Americans, 21.8 percent to Hispanics, 16.9 percent to Asians, 12.5 percent to blacks, and 1.5 percent to whites (table 5). During the same period, the number of conventional home purchase loans extended to applicants with incomes less than 80 percent of the MSA median increased 14.9 percent; applicants with incomes 80-99 percent, 100-119 percent, and 120 percent or more of the median experienced increases of 6.3 percent, 3.9 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively.

Denial Rates

In 1999, for the first time in several years, the overall denial rate for conventional home purchase loans decreased from the prior year--from 29 to 28 percent. Denial rates for such loans continue to vary among applicants, however, by income and racial or ethnic characteristics (table 3). In 1999, 49.0 percent of black applicants, 42.1 percent of Native American applicants, 35.0 percent of Hispanic applicants, 25.5 percent of white applicants, and 11.8 percent of Asian applicants were denied conventional home purchase loans (table 3). These rates of loan denial were lower than in 1998 for each group except Asians, for whom denial rates remained unchanged. Denial rates for conventional home purchase loans in 1998 were 53.7 percent for blacks, 52.9 percent for Native Americans, 38.7 percent for Hispanics, and 26.0 percent for whites.

Differences in the income levels of the racial or ethnic groups accounted for some of the differences among them in denial rates during 1999. However, in all but one income group white applicants experienced lower rates of denial than Native American, black, or Hispanic applicants (table 4). The HMDA data include many lenders' cited reasons for denial; in 1999, as in prior years, the reason most frequently cited for the denial of a single-family home loan application, regardless of the applicant's race or ethnic status, was poor or no credit history.

Attachments:

• Table 1-Residential lending activity reported by financial institutions
• Table 2-Applications for one- to four-family home loans
• Table 3-Disposition of conventional home purchase loan applications, by characteristics of applicant
• Table 4-Disposition of conventional home purchase loan applications, by income and race of applicant
• Table 5-Conventional home purchase loans
• Table 6-Government-backed home purchase loans
• Table 7-All home purchase loans

** The FFIEC has also compiled insurance data submitted by seven major private mortgage insurance (PMI) companies under the auspices of the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America. These data, which relate to application decisions made by the PMI companies during 1999, show 1.8 million applications for private mortgage insurance (1.3 million for home purchase loans, 0.5 million for refinancings). The data are available from the individual companies, and-in the same formats as the HMDA data-at the central depositories and from the FFIEC.