Home-Loan Report Portends More Pain
An analysis of federal data on nearly 14 million U.S. home loans made last year portends more misery for subprime borrowers, lenders and investors, as existing loans are pressured by falling home prices and lenders put tougher underwriting standards in place.</br></br>The study by the Federal Reserve, based on data collected each year under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, found that the percentage of U.S. mortgages carrying high interest rates (generally, subprime loans) climbed to about 29% last year from 26% in 2005.</br></br>In the report, Fed researchers said the data affirmed that the rise or fall of home prices is the biggest factor in predicting mortgage- loan performance, as opposed to the creditworthiness of borrowers and other variables. The study also linked higher concentrations of high- rate loans to rising rates of serious delinquency, or mortgages with payments overdue by at least 90 days.</br></br>The study examined loans issued by 8,886 lenders nationwide, which generate an estimated 80% of U.S. home mortgages. The lenders are required to disclose dozens of pieces of information about each mortgage made or applied for, including pricing information for loans with interest rates exceeding certain thresholds. For first-lien loans, lenders must report which loans have interest rates at least three percentage points higher than Treasury securities of comparable maturity.</br></br>The 2006 increase in high-rate loans was fueled partly by the flattened yield curve, or gap between long-term and short-term interest rates, which causes the number of loans exceeding the reporting thresholds to rise even if lenders don't charge borrowers higher interest rates. Still, the data suggest frenzied competition for subprime loans, even as the housing market was weakening.