MarketWatch
‘Though discrimination against a homebuyer on the basis of their race is illegal, it still happens’
Black American homebuyers are far more likely to have their mortgage requests denied when compared to the overall borrower population, with even wider disparities seen in cities like Boston and Jacksonville, according to a new LendingTree analysis. In fact, drawing on 2020 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, LendingTree found that, on average, the purchase mortgage denial rate for Black homebuyers in each of the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas was twice as high: An average of 18% of Black homebuyers were denied a mortgage, while the average denial rate for the overall population was 9%. In some cities, that spread was even worse: In St. Louis, Mo., the mortgage denial rate for Black homebuyers was 20.73%, compared to the overall purchase mortgage denial rate of 7.33%, the worst gap LendingTree observed.
