Mortgage Costs as a Share of Housing Costs—Placing the Cost of Credit in Broader Context

Housing affordability is a key policy concern and an important component of sustainable homeownership. It follows that reducing housing costs without increasing the risk of mortgage default is a critical approach to sustaining homeownership for current and future generations. In this paper, we break down the different elements of housing costs, specifically focusing on the nuances of mortgage costs. We use internal Fannie Mae data to establish a pro forma of housing costs for different owner-occupant borrower profiles over a typical ownership period (all homebuyers, first-time homebuyers [FTHBs], and low-income first-time homebuyers [LI FTHBs]). We find that the biggest contributors to overall housing costs are transactions costs, ongoing utility expenses, property taxes, home improvement costs, and the component of the mortgage interest rate that compensates investors for the time value of money, with utilities and home improvement costs particularly conspicuous for FTHBs and LI FTHBs. The guaranty fees charged by the government-sponsored enterprises and private mortgage insurance are estimated to be less than 6% of the cost of homeownership. These general patterns hold across racial and ethnic groups, although mortgage insurance alone is roughly 6% of total costs for Black and Hispanic FTHBs and LI FTHBs compared to 2% for white FTHBs and LI FTHBs. Overall, our findings suggest that nonmortgage housing costs are key areas that policymakers should focus on to reduce housing costs and foster sustained homeownership rates.