Abstract
The overstatement of asset collateral values reduces bank capital requirements. We identify this novel form of regulatory arbitrage by studying housing overappraisals, the difference between housing collateral values computed by appraisers and actual transaction prices. We leverage granular loan-level data from Spain and a kink in the scheme of residential mortgage risk weights to show that tighter regulatory requirements cause larger overappraisals. This bias depends on the relationship between appraisers and banks; appraisers inflate mortgage collateral values only for their major customer banks. On average, overappraisals lower risk-weighted mortgages by 9%. Mortgage overappraisals allow banks to free up regulatory capital to support additional risk-taking in the corporate loan market. This paper was accepted by Victoria Ivashina, finance. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4805 .
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
