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Rates and race: An analysis of racial disparities in mortgage rates

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  • Thomas Boehm
  • Paul Thistle
  • Alan Schlottmann

Abstract

We use a model based on the 1991–2001 American Housing Survey to determine whether differences in mortgage rates among whites, blacks, and Hispanics are due to differences in the property and loan characteristics of the borrowers themselves or to racial differences in how those characteristics are priced into rates. We separate loans into major market categories and present decompositions to assess the differences and distinguish between them. Very little information on mortgage pricing has been generally available to researchers, and the literature that discusses what information there is has not used a scheme that allows rate differences to be classified by characteristics and pricing. We find that significant differentials are more likely in the conventional mortgage market. The largest occur among blacks, who pay a much higher annual percentage rate than whites for both purchases and refinancing. For government‐insured loans, Hispanics do slightly better than whites.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Boehm & Paul Thistle & Alan Schlottmann, 2006. "Rates and race: An analysis of racial disparities in mortgage rates," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 109-149.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:houspd:v:17:y:2006:i:1:p:109-149
    DOI: 10.1080/10511482.2006.9521563
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. James Kau & Donald Keenan & Henry Munneke, 2012. "Racial Discrimination and Mortgage Lending," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 289-304, August.
    2. Kristopher Gerardi & Paul S. Willen & David Hao Zhang, 2020. "Mortgage Prepayment, Race, and Monetary Policy," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2020-22, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    3. Dhakal, Chandra K. & Escalante, Cesar L., 2018. "Heterogeneity of Farm Loan Packaging Term Decisions: A Finite Mixture Model Approach," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274118, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Paolo Emilio Mistrulli & Md Taslim Uddin & Alberto Zazzaro, 2023. "Discrimination of Immigrants in Mortgage Pricing and Approval: Evidence from Italy," CSEF Working Papers 675, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    5. Paul S. Willen & David Hao Zhang, 2020. "Do Lenders Still Discriminate? A Robust Approach for Assessing Differences in Menus," Working Papers 20-19, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    6. Yan Zhang, 2018. "Assessing Fair Lending Risks Using Race/Ethnicity Proxies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(1), pages 178-197, January.
    7. H. Young Baek & David D. Cho, 2023. "Are Minorities Still Paying Higher Mortgage Interest Rates?," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 29(1), pages 31-47, May.
    8. Gerardi, Kristopher & Willen, Paul S. & Zhang, David Hao, 2023. "Mortgage prepayment, race, and monetary policy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(3), pages 498-524.
    9. Yan Zhang, 2013. "Fair Lending Analysis of Mortgage Pricing: Does Underwriting Matter?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 131-151, January.
    10. Ping Cheng & Zhenguo Lin & Yingchun Liu, 2015. "Racial Discrepancy in Mortgage Interest Rates," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 101-120, July.
    11. James B. Kau & Lu Fang & Henry J. Munneke, 2019. "An Unintended Consequence of Mortgage Financing Regulation – a Racial Disparity," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 549-588, November.
    12. Cesar L. Escalante & Penghui Gao & William Secor, 2024. "Loan packaging decisions for beginning African American and other socially disadvantaged farmers," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 83(1), pages 109-126, January.

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