PolicyMap shares 2008 loan data

Online data-mapping tool PolicyMap has updated its database to include the latest information on mortgage loan originations, residential and commercial vacancies, unemployment and fair market rents.

PolicyMap is a Web site created by a Philadelphia-based nonprofit, The Reinvestment Fund, to share with the public data it gathers and analyzes on behalf of government agencies and other nonprofits, including statistics on home sales, lending practices and demographics (see story).

Registered users can access most of PolicyMap's datasets -- anything that The Reinvestment Fund does not have to pay for in order to license -- at no charge.

Paid subscribers also get access to licensed datasets, such as block-level home sales data and more tools to generate custom reports and query the PolicyMap database.

Datasets that are accessible free to registered users include mortgage origination data that lenders provide to federal banking regulators under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).

HMDA data shows the number of mortgage loans made at the state, county and census tract level, plus median loan amount, percentage of loans by type, purpose, insurance status, and race and ethnicity of borrowers.

PolicyMap users can map the HMDA dataset to see the prevalence of FHA, piggyback and "high-cost" (subprime) lending at the census tract level. ...CONTINUED

All rights reserved. This content may not be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, in part or in whole, without written permission of Inman News. Use of this content without permission is a violation of federal copyright law.