The Persisting Racial Gap in Homeownership and Mortgage Approval Rates

A new report from Zillow, the online real estate broker, finds a persisting huge racial disparity in mortgage approval rates and homeownership.

The report found that:

  • Black applicants are denied a mortgage at a rate 84 percent higher than White applicants, an increase of 10 percentage points since 2019.
  • Credit history is the most commonly cited reason that Black applicants are denied a mortgage.
  • Black homeownership is at 44 percent, far below the peak of 49.7 percent set in 2004.

Nationwide, 19.8 percent of Black applicants were denied a mortgage in 2020, the highest among any racial or ethnic group and much higher than the 10.7 percent of White applicants who were denied. Black applicants had the highest denial rates in Mississippi (31%), Louisiana (26.1%), Arkansas (26%), and South Carolina (25.8%).

The authors state that the gap between Black and White mortgage applicants continues to grow, setting Black would-be homeowners farther back from well-established wealth- and community-building benefits of homeownership than their White peers.

 

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1 COMMENT

  1. In other words Zillow, the racist FHA mortgage polices from the 1930s are still in full effect in 2022. Similar claims can be towards Zillow and its upper echelon executive personnel racial and ethnic makeup. Talk about hypocrisy Zillow. You need to clean your own house up as well.

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