Flood Damage and Mortgage Credit Risk: A Case Study of Hurricane Harvey

Carolyn Kousky, Mark Palim and Ying Pan

Journal of Housing Research, 2020, vol. 29, issue S1, S86-S120

Abstract: Using a unique, loan-level database that combines post-disaster home inspection data, flood zone designations, and loan performance measures in the area impacted by Hurricane Harvey, we examine the link between property damage, flood insurance, and mortgage credit risk. We find that compared with homes with no damage, loans on moderately to severely damaged homes are more likely to become 90 days delinquent shortly after Harvey. However, longer-term loan performance depends on whether the property is located in areas where borrowers are required to have flood insurance. Where flood insurance is required, loan prepayment rate rises with property damage. In areas where flood insurance is not required, and very few borrowers have flood insurance, we find that as property damage increases, the likelihood of needing a loan modification increases, as does the likelihood of a loan being 180 or more days delinquent or in default during the two years following Hurricane Harvey. Thus, our findings provide direct evidence that flood insurance protects homeowners and mortgage creditors against credit risk arising from flood events.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/10527001.2020.1840131 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rjrhxx:v:29:y:2020:i:s1:p:s86-s120

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rjrh20

DOI: 10.1080/10527001.2020.1840131

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Housing Research is currently edited by Kimberly Goodwin

More articles in Journal of Housing Research from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().