WASHINGTON -- The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council has made available 2005 data for mortgage lending transactions at 8,848 financial institutions covered by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act in metropolitan statistical areas throughout the U.S.

The HMDA data include disclosure statements for each financial institution, aggregate data for each MSA, nationwide summary statistics regarding lending patterns, and the Loan Application Register, modified for borrower privacy, submitted by each financial institution to its supervisory agency by March 1, 2006.

The HMDA data show disposition of loan applications detailed by property location, applicant characteristics, and census tract characteristics.

For the second year, the data reflect information about: loan prices, whether a loan is subject to the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act, whether a loan or application relates to manufactured housing, and whether a loan is secured by a first or subordinate lien, or is unsecured.

According to the FFIEC, the aggregate 2005 data show that the incidence of higher-priced lending was significantly higher overall in 2005 than in 2004. The data also show that the incidence of higher-priced lending, as well as the disposition of loan applications, varies by loan product, lender, geographic market, race and ethnicity. In addition, when viewed at the aggregate level, differences in the incidence of higher-priced lending between racial and ethnic groups increased from 2004 to 2005.

The FFIEC advised though that caution should be used when comparing the 2005 loan price data with the corresponding data for 2004 because several factors can affect whether loans are reported as higher. Among those factors are changes in the interest rate environment, changes in lenders' business practices, and changes in consumers' borrowing practices or credit risk profiles. [email protected]