The HMDA data are the most comprehensive publicly available information on mortgage market activity. They are used by industry, consumer groups, regulators, and others to assess potential fair lending risks and for other purposes.

Understanding the Data

The data include a total of 48 data points providing information about the applicants, the property securing the loan or proposed to secure the loan in the case of non-originated applications, the transaction, and identifiers. A complete list of HMDA data points and the associated data fields is found in the FFIEC’s Filing Instructions Guide for HMDA Data Collected in 2023. Certain smaller-volume financial institutions are not required to report all these data, pursuant to the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA).¹

The 2023 HMDA data use the census tract delineations, population, and housing characteristic data from the 2020 Census. In addition, the data reflect metropolitan statistical area (MSA) definitions released by the Office of Management and Budget in 2020 that became effective for HMDA purposes in 2022.

HMDA data comparisons across multiple years are limited by changes in HMDA definitions, values, and thresholds. Also, comparisons for certain geographic areas are limited due to the changes in MSA and census tract boundaries and updates to the population and housing characteristics of census tracts, especially those that follow the decennial census and five-year updates based on the ACS data.

Among other uses, the data help the public assess how financial institutions are serving the housing needs of their local communities and facilitate federal financial regulators’ fair lending, consumer compliance, and Community Reinvestment Act examinations. For example, when these regulators evaluate an institution’s fair lending risk, they analyze HMDA data in conjunction with other information and risk factors, in accordance with the Interagency Fair Lending Examination Procedures.

HMDA data are generally not used alone to determine whether a lender is complying with fair lending laws. The data do not include some legitimate credit risk considerations for loan approval and loan pricing decisions. Therefore, when regulators conduct fair lending examinations, they analyze additional information before reaching a determination about an institution’s compliance with fair lending laws.

Observations from the 2023 Data²

For 2023, the number of reporting institutions increased by about 14.6 percent from the previous year to 5,113.

The 2023 data include information on 10 million home loan applications. Among them, 7.7 million were closed-end, 2.1 million were open-end, and, for another 266,000 records, pursuant to the EGRRCPA’s partial exemptions, financial institutions did not indicate whether the records were closed-end or open-end. The number of closed-end loan applications decreased by 33.3 percent, and the number of open-end line of credit applications decreased by 19.0 percent. A total of 5.7 million applications resulted in loan originations. Among them, 4.4 million were closed-end mortgage originations, 1.1 million were open-end line of credit originations, and, pursuant to the EGRRCPA’s partial exemptions, 201,000 were originations for which financial institutions did not indicate whether they were closed-end or open-end. The 2023 data include 1.3 million purchased loans, for a total of 11.5 million records. The total also includes information on approximately 234,000 preapproval requests that were denied or approved but not accepted.

The total number of originated closed-end loans decreased by about 2.3 million between 2022 and 2023, or 34.5 percent.³ Closed-end Refinance originations for 1-4 family properties decreased by 63.3 percent from 2.3 million, and closed-end, 1-4 family home purchase lending decreased by 20.6 percent from 4.3 million.⁴

A total of 2,054 reporters made use of the EGRRCPA’s partial exemptions for at least one of the 26 data points eligible for the exemptions. In all, they account for about 266,000 records and 190,000 originations.

From 2022 to 2023, the share of closed-end home purchase loans for first lien, 1-4 family, site-built, owner-occupied properties made to low- or moderate-income borrowers (those with income of less than 80 percent of area median income) decreased slightly from 27.9 percent to 26.0 percent, and the share of closed-end refinance loans to low- and moderate-income borrowers for first lien, 1-4 family, site-built, owner-occupied properties increased from 35.4 percent to 40.3 percent.

In terms of borrower race and ethnicity, the share of closed-end home purchase loans for first lien, 1-4 family, site-built, owner-occupied properties made to Black borrowers rose from 8.1 percent in 2022 to 8.2 percent in 2023, the share made to Hispanic-White borrowers increased from 9.1 percent to 9.9 percent, and those made to Asian borrowers increased from 7.6 percent to 7.7 percent. From 2022 to 2023, the share of closed-end refinance loans for first lien, 1-4 family, site-built, owner-occupied properties made to Black borrowers increased from 8.1 percent to 10.1 percent, the share made to Hispanic-White borrowers decreased from 7.0 percent to 6.5 percent, and the share made to Asian borrowers decreased from 3.6 percent to 2.6 percent.

In 2023, Black and Hispanic-White applicants experienced denial rates for first lien, 1-4 family, site-built, owner-occupied conventional, closed-end home purchase loans of 16.6 percent and 12.0 percent respectively, while the denial rates for Asian and non-Hispanic-White applicants were 9.0 percent and 5.8 percent respectively. These relationships are similar to those found in earlier years and, due to the limitations of the HMDA data mentioned above, cannot take into account all legitimate credit risk considerations for loan approval and loan pricing.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured share of closed-end first-lien home purchase loans for 1-4 family, site-built, owner-occupied properties increased from 16.3 percent in 2022 to 19.8 percent in 2023. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)-guaranteed share of such loans increased slightly to 10.6 percent in 2023. The overall government-backed share of such home purchase loans, including FHA, VA, Rural Housing Service, and Farm Service Agency loans, was 31.6 percent in 2023, up from 28.1 percent in 2022.

The FHA-insured share of closed-end refinance mortgages for first lien, 1-4 family, site-built, owner-occupied properties increased to 26.3 percent in 2023 from 10.4 percent in 2022, while the VA-guaranteed share of such refinance loans increased from 9.5 percent in 2022 to 12.1 percent in 2023.

The share of mortgages originated by non-depository, independent mortgage companies has increased in recent years. In 2023, this group of lenders accounted for 63.1 percent of first lien, 1-4 family, site-built, owner-occupied, closed-end home-purchase loans, an increase from 60.2 percent in 2022. Independent mortgage companies also originated 67.1 percent of first lien, 1-4 family, site-built, owner-occupied, closed-end refinance loans, up from 62.1 percent in 2022.

The HMDA data also identify loans that are covered by the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA). Under HOEPA, certain types of mortgage loans that have interest rates or total points and fees above specified levels are subject to certain requirements, such as additional disclosures to consumers, and also are subject to various restrictions on loan terms. For 2023, 7,710 loan originations covered by HOEPA were reported: 4,653 home purchase loans for 1-4 family properties; 299 home improvement loans for 1-4 family properties; and 2,758 refinance loans for 1-4 family properties.