Mortgage loan debt is prevalent among middle-aged and older Americans. With higher average outstanding balances, many people are unlikely to pay off their mortgage debt by retirement. Meanwhile, as people age, health shocks are more likely to occur. Medical expenses may compete with mortgage payments and relate to financial insecurity in later years. In order to alleviate financial strain during times of financial hardship, senior homeowners may find reverse mortgage the solution they are looking for. Targeting American adults age 50 and older, this dissertation investigates mortgage loan debt and financial security using panel data from the Health and Retirement Study. Chapter 1 provides an overview of this dissertation and three studies. Chapter 2 investigates whether retirement preparedness plays a role in mortgage status at retirement, shown here as whether a person has mortgage debt and how much the remaining balance is (Waves 2004-2014). Chapter 3 examines health impact on likelihood of paying off mortgage loans under different health conditions, with estimates on expected time to mortgage payoff (Waves 2004-2014). Chapter 4 focuses on reverse mortgages and their impact on senior borrowers’ financial satisfaction and liquidity constraint (Waves 2010-2016). Chapter 5 summarizes major findings in three studies and highlights the contribution of this dissertation toward middle-aged and older Americans’ financial security. Limitations of three studies are discussed in Chapter 6. Three studies provide evidence on 1) the importance of preparedness on reduced mortgage burden; 2) adverse impact of health shock on likelihood of mortgage payoff; and 3) using reverse mortgages to reduce financial strain and increase financial satisfaction. Implications are addressed in each study.

Residential racial segregation has been perennially viewed as a major urban problem in the United States. Meanwhile, the single-family mortgage market has been an influential factor in determining segregation since at least the 1930s. Although many prior studies rightly have focused on the very real individual and social costs of subprime loans and related loan features, the greater leverage they afford also may have allowed some, especially minority, homebuyers to purchase properties they otherwise would not have been able to afford. Limited loan-to-value and payment-to-income ratio requirements have constrained borrowers from prime, conventional lenders, and relaxing these standards might allow some borrowers to purchase more expensive homes, possibly in higher quality neighborhoods. Additionally, if minority borrowers disproportionately obtained high-leverage loans, the effect of these loans on neighborhood choice may be greater for minorities than non-Hispanic whites. Since higher-quality neighborhoods are disproportionately non-Hispanic white or racially diverse, the increase in high-leverage mortgages might mitigate the neighborhood quality gap between minorities and non-Hispanic whites and reduce levels of racial/ethnic segregation. Accordingly, this dissertation focuses on two research questions: 1) whether high-leverage home purchase loans enabled borrowers to purchase more expensive homes and homes in higher-quality neighborhoods; and 2) whether these loans affected the racial/ethnic segregation of homebuyers at the metropolitan level. Since blacks and Hispanics comprise significant minorities in many metropolitan areas in the 2000s, I examine the questions for three racial/ethnic groups: non-Hispanics whites, blacks, and Hispanics. To answer the first question, household housing demand and neighborhood quality models are estimated using the American Housing Survey data. To answer the second question, metropolitan area segregation models are estimated primarily using the American Community Survey and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Both cross-sectional and fixed-effect panel segregation models are estimated using a two-stage least squares approach with chosen instruments. I find that the use of high-leverage loans increases housing demand and neighborhood quality, holding other household characteristics constant. I also find that high-leverage loans have a substantial, negative effect on black segregation, while the effect on Hispanic segregation is somewhat ambiguous. The findings suggest that policymakers should consider the impact of regulations affecting allowable loan-to-value and payment-to-income ratios on borrowers' residential choice and urban form, as well as on default risk.

Loans originated to borrowers with lower incomes and/or lower credit scores are classified as subprime. The spatial distribution of subprime loans is alarmingly concentrated in minority-dominated and low-income areas. Beginning in mid 2006 the subprime mortgage market began to see elevated levels of delinquent and defaulted loans. The causes are many but generally traced to the beginning of the reset periods for adjustable rate mortgages and the evaporation of demand for securitized subprime mortgages. As delinquent and default rates in subprime mortgages rise, areas with a concentration of high-risk borrowers are at risk to decline. The decline can be measured across four different groups of factors that indicate the health of a community. The four groups are: physical, institutional, socioeconomic and the residential body. The residential body factor group refers to the citizens of a community and their civic involvement. The analysis uses binary logistic regression to identify communities that are commonly associated with subprime mortgage defaults. Subprime loans in the ten-county Atlanta Metropolitan Area are the focus of the study. The analysis treats each census tract in the ten counties as an individual community. The sample loans are geocoded to the census tract level allowing defaulted loans to be tied to communities and their characteristics. The data is collected from a variety of sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Atlanta Regional Commission and RR Donnelley s Credit Risk Management database. The results indicate that the probability of subprime mortgage defaults are associated with higher vacancy rates, population loss, declining property tax revenues, depreciating property values, and declining owner reinvestment in their properties. Potential spill over impacts to the community include higher crime rates, decreased school funding and degradation of public infrastructure.

Tato diplomová práce se zabývá hypotečními trhy v České Republice a Spojeném Království. Porovnává faktory působící na funkci těchto trhů. Tyto faktory jsou vybrány na základě PEST analýzy. Cílem diplomové práce je popsat a porovnat tyto faktory na obou trzích za účelem jejich ohodnocení a navržení kroků ke zlepšení situace. Úspěšné a perspektivní stránky jednoho trhu jsou brány jako vzor pro nástroje, které by zlepšili situaci na trhu druhém.

This thesis analyzes the possibilities of financing own housing in the current conditions of the Czech Republic. Searches for a suitable combination of loan products in order to find the optimal variant financing housing situation of the client.

In urban development literature, the historical role of disinvestment through redlining and reinvestment through renewal during the period of expanded federal-level involvement is presumed and widely studied. However, there remains relatively little literature systematically examining the impacts of these interventions nationally. In this research, I examine how ideological prejudices are obdurate and path dependent when they become embedded in the built environment through legislation or federal institutions and these can influence neighborhood outcomes over time. In particular, I study federal redlining and urban renewal related interventions between 1940 and 1970/1980 – as proxied by redlining maps from the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), as well as urban renewal areas through digitized Urban Renewal Project characteristics maps and predicted through a machine learning process – to examine how these subsequently shaped socioeconomic, demographic, and homeownership and home value in this period, with reverberations in a more contemporary period between 1970/1980 - 2010. The main gaps in the knowledge relate to the additional impact the FHA had on neighborhood decline and racial segregation beyond existing trajectories and practices by lenders and private real estate stakeholders. Moreover, were these patterns uniform across the country or did they vary regionally based on the differences in the racial composition and economic development across the country? Lastly, no redlining research considers the possibility that urban renewal involved related interventions such as the demolition and new construction that presents a non-random complication to the estimation of redlining’s effects, as these interventions likely took place in the same areas that were redlined. I find that, using a more representative version of redlining maps in Chicago, the results suggest a negative impact on home values and homeownership rates and weakly decreased segregation for neighborhoods excluded from mortgage guarantees between 1940 and 1980. Moreover, I find that peripheral urban neighborhoods in Sunbelt cities experienced more consistent housing advantages from redlining. And in aggregate, despite disproportionate displacement of Black residents, urban renewal ultimately had a positive impact on economic indicators; however, when stratifying these results by redlining grades, these relationships do not hold true for better graded neighborhoods. In other words, the benefits from renewal are contingent on previous disinvestment.

My dissertation combines structural macroeconomic models with analyses of macro and micro data and broadly contributes to two research agendas. The first relates to the channels through which monetary policy impacts the economy. The second aims to understand how heterogeneity observed at the micro level affects the economy. The first two chapters, "Monetary Policy and Heterogeneous Mortgage Refinancing" and "A Model of Heterogeneous Mortgage Refinancing," focus on the refinancing channel of monetary policy. Since fixed-rate mortgages are the most significant source of household debt in the U.S., monetary policy can stimulate household consumption and wealth by lowering mortgage costs through refinancing. The potency of this channel will depend on households’ outstanding mortgage rates, as well as their willingness and ability to refinance. I combine empirical patterns from monthly loan-level data (from joint work with A.Burya) and a heterogeneous agent model of mortgage refinancing to show that credit score heterogeneity dampens the aggregate consumption response to monetary policy by 11%. The third and fourth chapters, "Anchoring of Inflation Expectations: An Empirical Test" and "Anchoring of Inflation Expectations: Role of Risk Premia," study the effectiveness of monetary policy in the U.S. by exploring the degree to which inflation expectations are anchored. If inflation expectations are well-anchored, then the Fed has a higher capacity to support aggregate employment when necessary, without destabilizing inflation. In joint work with A. Burya and S. Mishra, I construct a proxy of the change in the Fed's aggressiveness to inflation and develop an empirical test for inflation expectations anchoring. The proxy of the changes in the Fed's aggressiveness is equal to changes in expectations of future policy rates that are unexplained by the information contained in the inflation news release. The empirical test involves examining the sensitivity of inflation expectations to monetary policy shocks conditional on that proxy. I then use a measure of inflation expectations adjusted for inflation and liquidity risk premia to demonstrate that bond yield data in the U.S. is consistent with the anchoring of the long-term inflation expectations.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

The following research study attempts to identify the determinant factors, affecting the customer choice among alternative suppliers of mortgage products. The other objective of the study is to evaluate the role of bank brand in the customer choice of mortgage provider. The Analytic Hierarchy Process is employed as the research methodology. Research results suggest that cost-related factors (interest rate, borrowing limit and application costs), and one service-related factor (speed of decision) are determinant for the choice among alternative mortgage providers. However, brand-related factors, such as bank reputation and recommendations, are not found to have a significant effect on the customer choice. The method of brand value calculation, developed in the study requires further research to explain the role of brand in customer decision-making.

The following research study attempts to identify the determinant factors, affecting the customer choice among alternative suppliers of mortgage products. The other objective of the study is to evaluate the role of bank brand in the customer choice of mortgage provider. The Analytic Hierarchy Process is employed as the research methodology. Research results suggest that cost-related factors (interest rate, borrowing limit and application costs), and one service-related factor (speed of decision) are determinant for the choice among alternative mortgage providers. However, brand-related factors, such as bank reputation and recommendations, are not found to have a significant effect on the customer choice. The method of brand value calculation, developed in the study requires further research to explain the role of brand in customer decision-making.