Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Data Overview

These Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data files and the procedures for constructing them were initially developed by the Urban Institute to support DataPlace. The files are provided as a public service, and unfortunately, we are not currently able to provide individual technical assistance on their use. That said, we welcome comments, corrections, and stories about how you are using the data. Please direct any feedback or questions to natdata@urban.org. The Urban Institute procedures and algorithms used to construct these files are available upon request.

Any public use of these data files, or works from the data files, must be attributed as explained below. By using these files, you acknowledge that the Urban Institute is not liable for their use and you agree to the terms of the license described in the ODbL 1.0 license.

Attribution Requirements for Users

If you publicly use or redistribute the data files, or works produced from them, you must prominently display proper attribution.

Required Attribution: These HMDA data files (www.metrotrends.org/natdata/hmda/hmda_download.cfm) and the procedures for constructing them were initially developed by the Urban Institute to support DataPlace (www.dataplace.org). The data are licensed under the Open Database License (http:/www.metrotrends.org/natdata/ODbL.cfm).

The words "HMDA data files" must contain a hyperlink to www.metrotrends.org/natdata/hmda/hmda_download.cfm, and the word "DataPlace" must contain a hyperlink to www.dataplace.org. The words "Open Database License" must be hyperlinked to the text of the ODbL License for these data (http://www.metrotrends.org/natdata/ODbL.cfm). If hyperlinks are not possible, you must include the plain text of the required URL's with the above notice.

The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) requires most lending institutions to report data on mortgage loan applications, including the outcome of the application, information about the loan and applicant, and location of the property. In 2004, FFIEC expanded the data to include structure type, lien status, and whether the loan had high interest rates. FFIEC collects the data in order to determine whether financial institutions are meeting a community's housing credit needs; to target community development funds to attract private investment; and to identify possible discriminatory lending patterns. The reporting requirements are based on the level of institutional assets and the number of loans originated in metro areas. The loan-level data are summarized for various geographic levels into indicators on the racial and income distribution of borrowers, denial rates by race and income, and loans from subprime lenders by race.
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