Historical Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Data

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Andrew Forrester

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
HMDA_LAR_1981_1989.zip application/zip 39.2 MB 10/09/2021 10:55:AM
HMDA_LAR_1990.zip application/zip 61.6 MB 10/09/2021 11:28:AM
HMDA_LAR_1991.zip application/zip 73.6 MB 10/09/2021 11:10:AM
HMDA_LAR_1992.zip application/zip 112.1 MB 10/09/2021 11:10:AM
HMDA_LAR_1993.zip application/zip 146.1 MB 10/09/2021 11:09:AM
HMDA_LAR_1994.zip application/zip 117.6 MB 10/09/2021 11:09:AM
HMDA_LAR_1995.zip application/zip 108.8 MB 10/09/2021 11:09:AM
HMDA_LAR_1996.zip application/zip 145.6 MB 10/09/2021 11:09:AM
HMDA_LAR_1997.zip application/zip 161.9 MB 10/09/2021 11:09:AM
HMDA_LAR_1998.zip application/zip 243.2 MB 10/09/2021 11:09:AM

Project Citation: 

Forrester, Andrew. Historical Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Data. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2021-10-10. https://doi.org/10.3886/E151921V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary

Historical Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Data Files

The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) is a near census of mortgage lending activity in the United States implemented by the Federal Reserve Board's Regulation C.  Under HMDA, financial institutions are required to submit detailed records on loan applications and their ultimate outcomes, viz. origination, denial, application withdrawal, etc.  HMDA forms the backbone of analysis into U.S. mortgage markets by providing detailed information about mortgage borrowers, lenders, and properties.

Since 2006, the HMDA data were published by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) in an accessible format (CSV).  Prior to 2006, the data are only available from the National Archives in fixed-width text format.  This project seeks to convert the data prior to 2006 into a more accessible delimited format for easier analysis into historical mortgage market trends.

 These data are provided as-is. I will continue to refine these data over time to provide the most accurate data on historical market trends.  All codes will be available on my GitHub account.

Important Note: Since the HMDA data include detailed information on borrowers, loan amounts, and property locations (by census tract) it may be possible (albeit incredibly time and resource intensive) to match the HMDA records with publicly available borrower information. Do not do this. It is unethical to conduct research by identifying individuals from these public data. In fact, in downloading these ICPSR clearly states that one should "not use these datasets for investigation of specific RESEARCH SUBJECTS, except when identification is authorized in writing by ICPSR."  The HMDA data are collected and published to further the goal of anti-discrimination in U.S. housing markets. Using the data to re-identify borrowers is clearly a violation of this objective.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms mortgages; Federal National Mortgage Association; Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation; federal housing programs
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage United States
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1981 – 2006

Methodology

Data Source:  View help for Data Source National Archives, Record Group 82
Unit(s) of Observation:  View help for Unit(s) of Observation Census Tract (1981-1989) or Borrower (1990-on)
Geographic Unit:  View help for Geographic Unit Census Tract

Related Publications

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Published Versions

V1 [2021-10-10]

Export Metadata

Dublin Core

DDI 2.5

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This material is distributed exactly as received from the data depositor. As of April 2026, depositors are required to submit study materials in accessible formats. ICPSR has not reviewed, checked, or processed this material. For additional information about the study, please contact the investigator(s) directly. If you have questions about the accessibility of materials distributed by ICPSR or require further assistance, please visit ICPSR's Accessibility Center.