Understanding the Subprime Mortgage Crisis

40 Pages Posted: 10 Oct 2007 Last revised: 20 Jun 2009

Date Written: December 5, 2008

Abstract

Using loan-level data, we analyze the quality of subprime mortgage loans by adjusting their performance for differences in borrower characteristics, loan characteristics, and macroeconomic conditions. We find that the quality of loans deteriorated for six consecutive years before the crisis and that securitizers were, to some extent, aware of it. We provide evidence that the rise and fall of the subprime mortgage market follows a classic lending boom-bust scenario, in which unsustainable growth leads to the collapse of the market. Problems could have been detected long before the crisis, but they were masked by high house price appreciation between 2003 and 2005.

Keywords: mortgage, subprime, delinquency, foreclosure

JEL Classification: D12, G12, G21

Suggested Citation

Demyanyk, Yuliya and van Hemert, Otto, Understanding the Subprime Mortgage Crisis (December 5, 2008). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1020396 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1020396

Yuliya Demyanyk

University of Illinois at Chicago ( email )

1200 W Harrison St
Chicago, IL 60607
United States

Otto Van Hemert (Contact Author)

Man AHL ( email )

Riverbank House
2 Swan Lane
London, EC4R 3AD
United Kingdom

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