BOSTON, MA – (December 28, 2012) In its nineteenth annual report on mortgage lending patterns, the Massachusetts Community & Banking Council (MCBC) confirms a major shift in the mortgages provided to Massachusetts homebuyers. In the wake of the implosion of the subprime mortgage industry, high-cost subprime lending has almost disappeared, while government-backed lending has grown dramatically.

Changing Patterns XIX: Mortgage Lending to Traditionally Underserved Borrowers & Neighborhoods in Boston, Greater Boston and Massachusetts 2011, provides analyses of lending patterns in the city of Boston, Greater Boston and Massachusetts in 2011, as well as for each of the state’s thirty-three largest cities and towns. The report was prepared for MCBC by Jim Campen, professor emeritus of economics at UMass Boston. In addition to the data in the report, MCBC is also providing data on all Massachusetts cities and towns in a set of on-line tables. Both the report and the on-line tables are available on MCBC’s website at www.mcbc.info.

Members and friends packed into 1803 Dorchester Avenue on Monday night, December 3, for MAHA's 2012 Annual Meeting featuring remarks from the nation's leading bank regulator, Thomas J. Curry, Comptroller of the Currency.

Comptroller Curry praised MAHA's work with homebuyers and singled out MAHA's HomeSafe post-purchase program that is now offered by a dozen community organization throughout Massachusetts.

"As Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks I saw firsthand how critical the work of this organization is. Your counseling programs not only help to create homeownership opportunities, but help to sustain homeownership through delinquency intervention and post-purchase counseling. Your insights inform banking regulators and examiners about financial needs in communities and provide us with important on-the-ground intelligence about what banks are doing to help meet those community needs," stated Comptroller Curry.

Curry also complimented the series of annual reports, Paying More for the American Dream, which examine inequalities in the housing finance system and which are the work of a seven member community collaboration that includes MAHA.