September 19, 2022

CFPB: Annual Report of 2021 Mortgage Market Activity Reveals End to Refinancing Boom and Increase in Home Purchase Loans

Asian, Black, and Hispanic white shares of home purchase loans increased

Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its annual report on residential mortgage lending activity and trends for 2021. The report’s data are submitted by thousands of the nation’s lending institutions under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The report shows a shift from refinance loans in 2020 to home purchase loans in 2021, with a greater share of home purchase loans going to Asian, Black, and Hispanic white borrowers relative to the share of home purchase loans for non-Hispanic white borrowers. The top 25 closed-end lenders by loan volume held nearly half of the market share of residential mortgage lending – a trend that has risen each year since 2018.

The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act requires financial institutions to collect and report mortgage loan-level information on applications and originations. The data inform determinations as to whether financial institutions are serving the housing needs of their local communities. Additionally, the data facilitate the distribution of funds to local communities to help attract private investment, as well as to help identify possible discriminatory lending patterns and to enforce antidiscrimination statutes.

Key findings from this year’s analysis include:

This is the fourth year that HMDA data reflects changes implemented by the 2015 HMDA rule. The 2015 HMDA rule updated institution and transaction report criteria, and revised the data points that covered institutions must report.

Read today’s report, Data Point: 2021 Mortgage Market Activity and Trends .

Consumers can submit complaints about mortgage or refinance issues, or about other financial products or services, by visiting the CFPB’s website or by calling (855) 411-CFPB (2372).

This post was originally published here.