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State Foreclosure Laws and the Incidence of Mortgage Default

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  • Cem Demiroglu
  • Evan Dudley
  • Christopher M. James

Abstract

This paper examines how differences in state foreclosure laws influence the incidence of default in the residential mortgage market. In particular, we examine how judicial review requirements, lenders' recourse rights (deficiency judgments), and state assistance programs for distressed borrowers affected the likelihood of default during the recent U.S. housing crisis. We argue that state foreclosure laws should have little effect on the likelihood of liquidity events (for example, shocks to borrowers' ability to make payments) and thus provide a good instrument for identifying borrowers' costs of default. We find that borrowers with negative home equity are significantly more likely to default in states with borrower-friendly foreclosure laws. Finally, we examine how recent state and federal loan foreclosure prevention programs affected the likelihood of default. Overall, we find a significant decline in the effect of judicial review requirements but not deficiency judgments on default after 2008.

Suggested Citation

  • Cem Demiroglu & Evan Dudley & Christopher M. James, 2014. "State Foreclosure Laws and the Incidence of Mortgage Default," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(1), pages 225-280.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlawec:doi:10.1086/674868
    DOI: 10.1086/674868
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    Cited by:

    1. Jan K. Brueckner & James N. Conklin & N. Edward Coulson & Moussa Diop, 2023. "Default Costs and Repayment of Underwater Mortgages," CESifo Working Paper Series 10755, CESifo.
    2. Sá, Ana Isabel, 2020. "To change or not to change: the impact of the law on mortgage origination," MPRA Paper 104818, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Sá, Ana Isabel, 2023. "Recourse restrictions and judicial foreclosures: Effects of mortgage law on loan price and collateralization," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    4. Alin Marius Andries & Anca Copaciu & Radu Popa & Razvan Vlahu, 2021. "Recourse and (strategic) mortgage defaults: Evidence from changes in housing market laws," Working Papers 727, DNB.
    5. Reed, Robert R. & LaRue, Amanda & Ume, Ejindu S., 2018. "Mortgage recourse provisions and housing prices," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 99-111.
    6. Sewin Chan & Andrew Haughwout & Andrew Hayashi & Wilbert Van Der Klaauw, 2016. "Determinants of Mortgage Default and Consumer Credit Use: The Effects of Foreclosure Laws and Foreclosure Delays," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(2-3), pages 393-413, March.
    7. Wagner, Wolf & Bongaerts, Dion & Mazzola, Francesco, 2021. "Fire Sale Risk and Credit," CEPR Discussion Papers 15798, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. James Conklin & Moussa Diop & Mingming Qiu, 2022. "Religion and Mortgage Misrepresentation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 273-295, August.
    9. Mandai, Yu & Nakabayashi, Masaki, 2018. "Stabilize the peasant economy: Governance of foreclosure by the shogunate," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 305-327.
    10. Milonas, Kristoffer, 2017. "The effect of foreclosure laws on securitization: Evidence from U.S. states," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 1-22.
    11. Liao, Yanjun (Penny) & Mulder, Philip, 2021. "What's at Stake? Understanding the Role of Home Equity in Flood Insurance Demand," RFF Working Paper Series 21-25, Resources for the Future.
    12. Tsai, Ming Shann & Chiang, Shu Ling & Miller, Chen, 2016. "A study on the distribution of the foreclosure lag, its expected capital opportunity cost and its analyses," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 156-170.
    13. Arnab Biswas & Hamilton Fout & Anthony Pennington-Cross, 2023. "Mortgage Losses under Alternative Property Disposition Approaches: Deed-in-Lieu, Short Sales, and Foreclosure Sales," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 66(3), pages 603-635, April.

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