Who got hit hardest during the housing boom and bust?

Urban Institute map shows 12 years of mortgage history in less than 30 seconds

It comes as no shock that mortgage originations reached record levels in the United States right before the housing market crashed in 2009. But, the Urban Institute has created a new tool that takes an in-depth look at the U.S. mortgage market during the last 12 years and the severity of the housing boom.

The interactive map shows the distribution of the 100 million mortgages that were originated from 2001 to 2012 and identifies borrowers during that time by race and ethnicity.

“Today’s tight credit environment has constrained mortgage lending and is disproportionately affecting African American and Hispanic households,” the Urban Institute reports. “As a result, these communities have found it harder to take advantage of the low home prices and interest rates that followed the housing market crash.”

The nonprofit noted the volume of lending overall and to different racial and ethnic groups fluctuated greatly during the course of the boom and bust, according to records released under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.

During the height of the housing boom, the housing market experienced high prices and borrowers had easy access to credit. In 2006, approximately 12.2 million new mortgages were originated with the 25% of those loans made to African American and Hispanic households.

Then, as prices began to drop and buying a home became more affordable, tightened credit standards left many from these same communities unable to obtain or refinance a loan, according to the Urban Institute. From 2006 to 2012, the share of loans made to African American and Hispanic households dropped from 25 percent to 12 percent.