Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
1-2024
Abstract
We examine whether beliefs about climate change affect loan officers’ mortgage lending decisions. We show that abnormally high local temperature leads to elevated attention to and belief in climate change in a region. Loan officers approve fewer mortgage applications and originate lower amounts of loans in abnormally warm weather. This effect is stronger among counties heavily exposed to the risk of sea-level rise, during periods of heightened public attention to climate change, and for loans originated by small lenders. Additional tests suggest that the negative relation between temperature and approval rate is not fully explained by changes in local economic conditions and demand for mortgage credit, or deteriorating quality of loan applicants. By contrast, Fintech lenders partially fill the gap in demand left by traditional lenders when local temperature is abnormally high.
Keywords
Climate Change, Global Warming, Mortgage Lending, Temperature Anomaly
Discipline
Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics | Finance and Financial Management
Research Areas
Finance
Publication
Journal of Empirical Finance
Volume
75
First Page
1
Last Page
29
ISSN
0927-5398
Identifier
10.1016/j.jempfin.2023.101445
Publisher
Elsevier
Embargo Period
6-21-2023
Citation
DUAN, Tinghua and LI, Frank Weikai.
Climate change concerns and mortgage lending. (2024). Journal of Empirical Finance. 75, 1-29.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/7220
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jempfin.2023.101445
Included in
Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons, Finance and Financial Management Commons