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Mortgage debt and household deleveraging: accounting for the decline in mortgage debt using consumer credit record data

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Abstract

One of the major reasons hypothesized for the tepid economic recovery thus far is the ongoing \"deleveraging\" process. From 2009:Q3 to 2011:Q3, aggregate household debt declined by about $1.5 trillion in real terms, with mortgage debt falling by about $1 trillion. Other than defaults, the factors driving the decline in aggregate debt are not precisely understood, in large part because the necessary data are not widely available. This paper draws on panel data consisting of individual credit records to better understand why mortgage debt has declined. I decompose changes in aggregate mortgage debt over two-year periods spanning the past decade into inflows (from individuals whose mortgage debt increases during a given two-year period) and outflows (from those who reduce or eliminate their mortgage debt over a period). The principal finding is that the drop in outstanding mortgage debt has more to do with shrinking inflows than with expanding outflows, including defaults. Even if outflows had not grown at all, mortgage debt would have declined over the past two years because inflows have been so weak. One factor dampening inflows is historically weak first-time homebuying, especially among those with less-than-excellent credit scores, suggesting tight credit supply has limited debt accumulation even among those who have little debt. On the outflows side, most of the expansion can be traced to financially distressed borrowers and mortgage defaults, with real estate investors playing a disproportionate role. Otherwise, there has not been much of an increase in outflows, implying that borrowers generally are not paying down their balances more aggressively than in the past.

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  • Neil Bhutta, 2012. "Mortgage debt and household deleveraging: accounting for the decline in mortgage debt using consumer credit record data," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2012-14, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2012-14
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Atif Mian & Amir Sufi, 2011. "House Prices, Home Equity-Based Borrowing, and the US Household Leverage Crisis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(5), pages 2132-2156, August.
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    5. Andrew F. Haughwout & Donghoon Lee & Joseph Tracy & Wilbert Van der Klaauw, 2011. "Real estate investors, the leverage cycle, and the housing market crisis," Staff Reports 514, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    6. Daniel H. Cooper, 2009. "Did easy credit lead to economic peril?: home equity borrowing and household behavior in the early 2000s," Public Policy Discussion Paper 09-7, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hall, R.E., 2016. "Macroeconomics of Persistent Slumps," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 2131-2181, Elsevier.
    2. Adél Bosch & Matthew Clance & Steven F. Koch, 2022. "Household debt and consumption dynamics A non-developed world view following the financial crisis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(8), pages 897-917, February.
    3. Adél Bosch & Matthew W. Clance & Steven F. Koch, 2021. "Household debt and consumption dynamics: A non-developed world view following the ï¬ nancial crisis," Working Papers 868, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    4. 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.
    5. Daniel Garrote & Jimena Llopis & Javier Vallés, 2013. "Los canales del desapalancamiento del sector privado: una comparación internacional," Boletín Económico, Banco de España, issue NOV, pages 69-80, Noviembre.
    6. Christophe André, 2016. "Household debt in OECD countries: stylised facts and policy issues," Chapters from NBP Conference Publications, in: Hanna Augustyniak & Jacek Łaszek & Krzysztof Olszewski & Joanna Waszczuk (ed.), Papers presented during the Narodowy Bank Polski Workshop: Recent trends in the real estate market and its analysis - 2015 edition, chapter 2, pages v1, 33-85, Narodowy Bank Polski.

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