Mortgage applications from borrowers of color are denied significantly more frequently than those from white borrowers, a recent analysis shows.
In 2023, 27.2% of Black applicants were denied a mortgage, more than double the 13.4% of white borrowers. That’s a full 10 percentage points higher than borrowers of all races, according to the analysis of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act from the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center.
The application data confirms deep disparities in mortgage financing that show up elsewhere in the housing market: Black borrowers accounted for only 8.5% of all purchase mortgage borrowers in 2023, for example – also according to HMDA. Meanwhile, in 2024, the Black homeownership rate is 45.3%, a whopping 30 percentage points below that of white households, at 74.4%. For Latinx households, it’s 48.5%.
