The Consumer Financial Protection is pushing further into collection and distribution of consumer mortgage data with the launch of a new online tool that gathers information under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).
The database allows users to search HMDA data and filter findings by geographic region, income level, race and other borrower descriptors as well as identify findings under specific lenders.
“Just as the real estate motto ‘location, location, location’ was true before the recent financial crisis, it was true for the crisis,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray in announcing the launch. “Every community was affected differently. Our tool puts valuable information into the hands of the public in an accessible way, so they can understand what is happening in their local mortgage markets.”
Based on the HMDA data collection, which the agency makes available through 2012, the public can access a heatmap of mortgage applications and originations as well as interactive graphs of loans by type and volume spanning refinances, home purchases and home improvements. They can also view a breakdown of loans based on whether they are conventional, made under the Federal Housing Administration, Veterans Affairs and Rural Housing Service.
The comparisons show the number of loan originations has risen by 2.4 million, or 39% from 2011 to 2012, with refinance activity also on the rise from 6.6 million applications in 2011 to 9.3 million in 2012.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
