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Explaining Refinancing Decisions Using Microdata
Author(s) -
Dickinson Amy,
Heuson Andrea J.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
real estate economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.064
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1540-6229
pISSN - 1080-8620
DOI - 10.1111/1540-6229.00612
Subject(s) - microdata (statistics) , prepayment of loan , economics , loan , interest rate , debt , monetary economics , value (mathematics) , finance , population , demography , machine learning , sociology , computer science , census
This paper develops a model which explains how mortgage‐rate movements, transactions costs, changes in borrower income and house value, personal financial opportunities and the prepayment option embedded in fixed‐rate mortgages affect a financially flexible borrower's decision to refinance an existing loan while retaining the underlying home. Broadening the focus of previous analytical work, the model explains why households with similar mortgage loans may react differently as financial market conditions change. It contains definitive empirical predictions that are supported by an analysis of a choice‐based sample of individual loan transactions. Results suggest that refinancings are motivated both by movements in the level of interest rates and by borrowers' desires to alter their capital structures in the face of changing income and housing wealth.