Refinancing Inequality During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sumit Agarwal, Souphala Chomsisengphet, Hua Kiefer, Leonard C. Kiefer and Paolina C. Medina

Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 2024, vol. 59, issue 5, 2133-2163

Abstract: During the first half of 2020, the difference in savings from mortgage refinancing between high- and low-income borrowers was 10 times higher than before. This was the result of two factors: high-income borrowers increased their refinancing activity more than otherwise comparable low-income borrowers and, conditional on refinancing, they captured slightly larger improvements in interest rates. Refinancing inequality increases with the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and is characterized by an underrepresentation of low-income borrowers in the pool of applications. We estimate a difference of $5 billion in savings between the top income quintile and the rest of the market.

Date: 2024
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