IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/16175.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Role of Mortgage Brokers in the Subprime Crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Antje Berndt
  • Burton Hollifield
  • Patrik Sandås

Abstract

Prior to the subprime crisis, mortgage brokers originated about 65% of all subprime mortgages. Yet little is known about their behavior during the runup to the crisis. Using data from New Century Financial Corporation, we find that brokers earned an average revenue of $5,300 per funded loan. We decompose the broker revenues into a cost and a profit component and find evidence consistent with brokers having market power. The profits earned are different for different types of loans and vary with borrower, broker, regulation and neighborhood characteristics. We relate the broker profits to the subsequent performance of the loans and show that brokers earned high profits on loans that turned out to be riskier ex post.

Suggested Citation

  • Antje Berndt & Burton Hollifield & Patrik Sandås, 2010. "The Role of Mortgage Brokers in the Subprime Crisis," NBER Working Papers 16175, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16175
    Note: AP
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w16175.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael LaCour-Little, 2009. "The Pricing of Mortgages by Brokers: An Agency Problem?," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 31(2), pages 235-264.
    2. Hunt-McCool, Janet & Koh, Samuel C & Francis, Bill B, 1996. "Testing for Deliberate Underpricing in the IPO Premarket: A Stochastic Frontier Approach," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(4), pages 1251-1269.
    3. Pennington-Cross, Anthony, 2003. "Credit History and the Performance of Prime and Nonprime Mortgages," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 279-301, November.
    4. Anthony Pennington-Cross & Souphala Chomsisengphet, 2007. "Subprime Refinancing: Equity Extraction and Mortgage Termination," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 35(2), pages 233-263, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Patrick Payne & Tammy Huffman Ph.D, 2012. "Minimizing predatory lending: Designing a long-term compensation structure to minimize the actions of opportunistic mortgage brokers," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 2(5), pages 8-19, October.
    2. Jason Allen & Robert Clark & Jean-François Houde, 2014. "Price Dispersion in Mortgage Markets," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(3), pages 377-416, September.
    3. Jason Allen & Robert Clark & Jean-François Houde & Shaoteng Li & Anna V. Trubnikova, 2023. "The Role of Intermediaries in Selection Markets: Evidence form Mortgage Lending," NBER Working Papers 31989, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Itzhak Ben‐David, 2019. "High Leverage and Willingness to Pay: Evidence from the Residential Housing Market," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 47(3), pages 643-684, September.
    5. Tomasz Piskorski & Amit Seru & James Witkin, 2015. "Asset Quality Misrepresentation by Financial Intermediaries: Evidence from the RMBS Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(6), pages 2635-2678, December.
    6. Patrick Payne & Tammy Huffman Ph.D, 2012. "Minimizing predatory lending: Designing a long-term compensation structure to minimize the actions of opportunistic mortgage brokers," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 2(5), pages 8-19, October.
    7. Shi, Lan & Zhang, Yan, 2018. "The effect of mortgage broker licensing under the originate-to-distribute model: Evidence from the U.S. mortgage market," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 35(PA), pages 70-85.
    8. Eliana Balla & Raymond Brastow & Daniel Edgel & Morgan Rose, 2024. "The Effect of Regulatory Oversight on Nonbank Mortgage Subsidiaries," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 68(3), pages 523-575, April.
    9. Susan E. Woodward & Robert E. Hall, 2012. "Diagnosing Consumer Confusion and Sub-optimal Shopping Effort: Theory and Mortgage-Market Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3249-3276, December.
    10. Dejan Šoškić, 2015. "Global Financial Reform Since 2008: Achievements and Shortcomings," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 62(3), pages 385-400, June.
    11. Morgan Rose, 2012. "Prepayment Penalties: Efficiency and Predation," Journal of Housing Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 227-260, January.
    12. Shah, Syed Zulfiqar Ali & Akbar, Saeed & Liu, Jia & Liu, Ziyu & Cao, Sichen, 2017. "CEO compensation and banks’ risk-taking during pre and post financial crisis periods," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1489-1503.
    13. Gene Amromin & Jennifer Huang & Clemens Sialm & Edward Zhong, 2018. "Complex Mortgages [Why don’t lenders renegotiate more home mortgages? Redefaults, self-cures, and securitization]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 22(6), pages 1975-2007.
    14. Brent W. Ambrose & James N. Conklin, 2014. "Mortgage Brokers, Origination Fees, Price Transparency and Competition," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 42(2), pages 363-421, June.
    15. Maitland MacFarlan, 2017. "House price collapses: policy responses and lessons learned," Reserve Bank of New Zealand Bulletin, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, vol. 80, pages 1-17, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Antje Berndt & Burton Hollifield & Patrik Sandås, 2021. "What Broker Charges Reveal About Subprime Mortgage Credit Risk," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 63(2), pages 280-326, August.
    2. Dror Parnes, 2023. "Typical States and Their Risks for Mortgage Loans," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 21(2), pages 395-415, June.
    3. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2009_035 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Demyanyk, Yuliya & Hasan, Iftekhar, 2009. "Financial crises and bank failures: a review of prediction methods," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 35/2009, Bank of Finland.
    5. W. Scott Frame & Lawrence J. White, 2009. "Technological change, financial innovation, and diffusion in banking," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2009-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    6. Lanot, Gauthier & Leece, David, 2010. "The Performance of UK Securitized Subprime Mortgage Debt: ‘Idiosyncratic’ Behaviour or Mortgage Design?," MPRA Paper 27137, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Bhardwaj, Geetesh & Sengupta, Rajdeep, 2014. "Subprime cohorts and loan performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 236-252.
    8. Demyanyk, Yuliya & Hasan, Iftekhar, 2010. "Financial crises and bank failures: A review of prediction methods," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 315-324, October.
    9. Berndt, Antje & Hollifield, Burton & Sandås, Patrik, 2017. "What Broker Charges Reveal about Mortgage Credit Risk," Working Paper Series 336, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).
    10. Demyanyk, Yuliya & Hasan, Iftekhar, 2010. "Financial crises and bank failures: A review of prediction methods," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 315-324, October.
    11. Anil Kumar, 2018. "Do Restrictions on Home Equity Extraction Contribute to Lower Mortgage Defaults? Evidence from a Policy Discontinuity at the Texas Border," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 268-297, February.
    12. David Downs & Pisun (Tracy) Xu, 2015. "Commercial Real Estate, Distress and Financial Resolution: Portfolio Lending Versus Securitization," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 254-287, August.
    13. Heejoon Kang & Michele Fratianni, 2006. "International Trade Efficiency, the Gravity Equation, and the Stochastic Frontier," Working Papers 2006-08, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
    14. Carlos Garriga & Aaron Hedlund, 2019. "Crises in the Housing Market: Causes, Consequences, and Policy Lessons," Working Papers 2019-33, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    15. Agarwal, Sumit & Chang, Yan & Yavas, Abdullah, 2012. "Adverse selection in mortgage securitization," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 640-660.
    16. Wang, Hung-Jen, 2006. "Stochastic frontier models," MPRA Paper 31079, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Saha, Asish & Rooj, Debasis & Sengupta, Reshmi, 2023. "Macroprudential Policy and mortgage leverage decisions—Evidence from micro data," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1430-1444.
    18. deRitis, Cristian & Kuo, Chionglong & Liang, Yongping, 2010. "Payment shock and mortgage performance," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 295-314, December.
    19. Goodman, Allen C. & Smith, Brent C., 2010. "Residential mortgage default: Theory works and so does policy," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 280-294, December.
    20. Ho, Giang & Pennington-Cross, Anthony, 2006. "The impact of local predatory lending laws on the flow of subprime credit," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 210-228, September.
    21. Herrala, Risto & Turk-Ariss, Rima, 2016. "Capital accumulation in a politically unstable region," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-15.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16175. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.