You may have heard this on the news lately but I was very surprised to hear that there is still a large disparity in loan approvals between black and Hispanic applicants and white and Asian applicants. This was something that was supposed to be addressed through federal and state fair housing laws that prohibit discrimination of this type. Although the numbers are better than in the past according to a recent study by Zillow, a major gap exists between loan denials for white and Asian applicants and those of black and Hispanic applicants.
In 2016, nearly 21% of black applicants were denied a conventional loan, while 15.5% of Hispanics were also denied. Asian applicants were denied a conventional loan in 10.4% of cases and whites in 8.1%. The gap widens even further in certain geographic locations — particularly in the North and on the Atlantic Coast.
Why aren't the fair housing laws working? Owning real estate is one of the best ways to build wealth and pass it on to future generations. This is a real problem that needs to be addressed.
For more specifics read this interesting article by Aly Yale on Forbes.com.
