scholarly journals Payment Size, Negative Equity, and Mortgage Default

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 167-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Fuster ◽  
Paul S. Willen
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rate ◽  
Treatment Effect ◽  
Mortgage Default ◽  
Rate Environment ◽  
Adjustable Rate

This paper studies the treatment effect of monthly payment size on mortgage default, using a sample of adjustable-rate loans that experienced large payment reductions thanks to the recent low interest rate environment. Payment size has an economically large effect on repayment behavior; for instance, cutting the required payment in half reduces the delinquency hazard by about 55 percent. Importantly, the link between payment size and delinquency is equally strong for borrowers that are significantly underwater on their mortgage. Relying on payment reductions for identification circumvents the selection concerns due to prepayments that would be associated with rate increases. (JEL D14, G21, R31)

How Do Homeowners Choose Between Fixed and Adjustable Rate Mortgages?

2016 ◽  
Vol 06 (04) ◽  
pp. 1650013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yevgeny Mugerman ◽  
Moran Ofir ◽  
Zvi Wiener
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rate ◽  
Housing Prices ◽  
Optimal Choice ◽  
Housing Finance ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Fixed Rate ◽  
High Interest Rate ◽  
Theoretical Literature ◽  
Rate Environment ◽  
Adjustable Rate

Housing is the most important asset in the portfolio of most households. Understanding the households’ decision on housing finance has important implications from a policy perspective, due to the effects it may have on the housing prices, on the housing market stability and on household welfare. The theoretical literature on housing finance focused on figuring out the optimal choice between fixed rate mortgages (FRMs) and adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs). We argue that the standard economic criteria are sometimes inadequate to explain household’s choices, which may be motivated by psychological factors. In other words, we claim that household’s choice depends only partially on the findings of the theoretical literature. We examine the effect of changes in the short-term market interest rate on the households’ choice between FRMs and ARMs. We test this effect using a unique data provided to us by the Bank of Israel, which contains detailed information on the household’s decision between FRM and ARM contracts in Israel in the past decade. The results of our analysis demonstrate a significant association between FRM preference and short-term interest rate reduction. Moreover, we find that the change in the short-term interest rate is more salient to the borrowers in periods of a high interest rate environment. We attribute these findings to Tversky and Kahneman (1974) availability and representativeness heuristics.

International Real Estate Review

1998 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-80
Author(s):  
Jia He ◽  
◽  
Ming Liu ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Interest Rate ◽  
Real Estate ◽  
Seasonal Pattern ◽  
Property Market ◽  
Mortgage Loans ◽  
Adjustable Rate ◽  
The Interest Rate

A study on the prepayment behavior of Hong Kong mortgage loans is conducted. With all of the loans as adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), we find that 1) Prepayment speeds up and then slows down as the mortgage seasons; 2) Prepayment speeds up as the rate markup decreases; 3) Prepayment speeds up as the interest rate increases; 4) Prepayment speeds up when the profitability ratio of the banks ( the prime-HIBOR spread) is higher; 5) Prepayment speeds up as the price of the property market falls; 6) Prepayment speed is faster for loans with a lower loan-to-value ratio; 7) Prepayment exhibits a seasonal pattern: people tend to prepay in the summer.

scholarly journals German Banks' Behavior in the Low Interest Rate Environment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramona Busch ◽  
Helge Littke ◽  
Christoph Memmel ◽  
Simon Niederauer
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rate ◽  
Rate Environment
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