Mortgages prefer sunshine

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Feb 212016
 

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By G. Steven Bray

I’m not sure what to make of this, but I felt I needed to share. Check the weather forecast before you apply for a mortgage. Mortgage approval rates are higher when it’s sunny.

That’s the result of a study by the Cleveland Federal Reserve. It studied data from 1998 to 2010 and found that sunny days boosted approval rates by almost 1% while overcast days reduced approval rates by almost 1.5%. That may seem insignificant until you consider that the extra credit provided on a sunny day is about $150 million. Now, it seems significant.

But the result for gloomy days has a silver lining. It turns out sunny-day borrowers aren’t as financially responsible. Loans approved on sunny days have significantly higher default rates. Maybe that’s explains bankers’ penchant for golf.