Payment Size, Negative Equity, and Mortgage Default
61 Pages Posted: 9 Dec 2012 Last revised: 26 Jan 2015
There are 2 versions of this paper
Payment Size, Negative Equity, and Mortgage Default
Payment Size, Negative Equity, and Mortgage Default
Date Written: January 2015
Abstract
Surprisingly little is known about the importance of mortgage payment size for default, as efforts to measure the treatment effect of rate increases or loan modifications are confounded by borrower selection. We study a sample of hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages that have experienced substantial rate reductions over the past years and are largely immune to these selection concerns. We find that 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 holds even for borrowers who are significantly underwater on their mortgages. These findings shed light on the driving forces behind default behavior and have important implications for public policy.
Keywords: mortgage finance, delinquency, adjustable-rate mortgages, Alt-A
JEL Classification: G21, E43
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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