Report reveals mortgage denial rate for Black borrowers

Detroit (in the state of Michigan), Miami and Jacksonville (Florida) were the cities with the highest average denial rates for Black borrowers (25.5%).

This was more than double the average denial rate of 12.5% across San Francisco (California), Seattle (Washington) and Sacramento (California), the cities with the smallest percentage point differences between denial rates for Black borrowers and the overall population.

St. Louis (Missouri), Boston (Massachusetts), and Jacksonville were the cities with the largest percentage point differences, with an average of 13.3 percentage points higher than the denial rate for the overall mortgage borrower population.

In St. Louis, the mortgage denial rate was 20.7% for Black borrowers compared to 7.3% for the rest. By contrast, in San Francisco, it was 11.7% compared to 9.4%, respectively.

Although the report said the exact reasons behind the disparity were “difficult to pin down”, it cited lower incomes generally and less household wealth among Black Americans as contributing factors for the disproportionately high denial rates.