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Owner-Occupancy Fraud and Mortgage Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Ronel Elul
  • Aaron Payne
  • Sebastian Tilson

Abstract

We identify occupancy fraud — borrowers who misrepresent their occupancy status as owner-occupants rather than investors — in residential mortgage originations. Unlike previous work, we show that fraud was prevalent in originations not just during the housing bubble, but also persists through more recent times. We also demonstrate that fraud is broad-based and appears in government-sponsored enterprise and bank portfolio loans, not just in private securitization; these fraudulent borrowers make up one-third of the effective investor population. Occupancy fraud allows riskier borrowers to obtain credit at lower interest rates. These fraudulent borrowers perform substantially worse than similar declared investors, defaulting at a 75 percent higher rate. Their defaults are also likelier to be “strategic,” suggesting that they pose a risk in the face of declining house prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Ronel Elul & Aaron Payne & Sebastian Tilson, 2023. "Owner-Occupancy Fraud and Mortgage Performance," Working Papers 23-01, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedpwp:95577
    DOI: 10.21799/frbp.wp.2023.01
    Note: WP 23-01 supersedes WP 19-53R
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    9. John M. Griffin & Gonzalo Maturana, 2016. "Editor's Choice Who Facilitated Misreporting in Securitized Loans?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(2), pages 384-419.
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    Cited by:

    1. Albanesi, Stefania & DeGiorgi, Giacomo & Nosal, Jaromir, 2022. "Credit growth and the financial crisis: A new narrative," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 118-139.
    2. Griffin, John M. & Kruger, Samuel & Maturana, Gonzalo, 2021. "What drove the 2003–2006 house price boom and subsequent collapse? Disentangling competing explanations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(3), pages 1007-1035.
    3. Eid, Nourhan & Maltby, Josephine & Talavera, Oleksandr, 2016. "Income Rounding and Loan Performance in the Peer-to-Peer Market," MPRA Paper 72852, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Daniel I. García, 2022. "Second‐home buying and the housing boom and bust," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(1), pages 33-58, March.
    5. Yiwei Dou & Stephen G. Ryan & Biqin Xie, 2018. "The Real Effects of FAS 166/167 on Banks’ Mortgage Approval and Sale Decisions," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 843-882, June.
    6. Peter Rosenblatt & Steven J. Sacco, 2018. "Investors and the Geography of the Subprime Housing Crisis," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 94-116, January.
    7. Lauren Lambie‐Hanson & Wenli Li & Michael Slonkosky, 2022. "Real estate investors and the U.S. housing recovery," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(6), pages 1425-1461, November.
    8. Chen, Denghui & Kiefer, Hua & Liu, Xiaodong, 2022. "Estimation of discrete choice network models with missing outcome data," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    9. Peter Ganong & Pascal J. Noel, 2020. "Why Do Borrowers Default on Mortgages?," NBER Working Papers 27585, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    mortgage default; consumer credit; household finance; misreporting; fraud;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • R3 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location

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