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Do Minorities Pay More for Mortgages?

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Abstract

We test for racial discrimination in the prices charged by mortgage lenders. We construct a unique dataset where we observe all three dimensions of a mortgage's price: the interest rate, discount points, and fees. While we find statistically significant gaps by race and ethnicity in interest rates, these gaps are offset by differences in discount points. We trace out point-rate schedules and show that minorities and whites face identical schedules, but sort to different locations on the schedule. Such sorting may reflect systematic differences in liquidity or preferences. Finally, we find no differences in total fees by race or ethnicity.

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  • Neil Bhutta & Aurel Hizmo, 2020. "Do Minorities Pay More for Mortgages?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2020-007, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2020-07
    DOI: 10.17016/FEDS.2020.007
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Andrew F. Haughwout & Christopher J. Mayer & Joseph Tracy, 2009. "Subprime mortgage pricing: the impact of race, ethnicity, and gender on the cost of borrowing," Staff Reports 368, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    2. Ghent, Andra C. & Hernández-Murillo, Rubén & Owyang, Michael T., 2014. "Differences in subprime loan pricing across races and neighborhoods," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 199-215.
    3. Ross, Stephen L. & Turner, Margery Austin & Godfrey, Erin & Smith, Robin R., 2008. "Mortgage lending in Chicago and Los Angeles: A paired testing study of the pre-application process," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 902-919, May.
    4. Munnell, Alicia H. & Geoffrey M. B. Tootell & Lynn E. Browne & James McEneaney, 1996. "Mortgage Lending in Boston: Interpreting HMDA Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 25-53, March.
    5. Susan E. Woodward & Robert E. Hall, 2012. "Diagnosing Consumer Confusion and Sub-optimal Shopping Effort: Theory and Mortgage-Market Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3249-3276, December.
    6. Bocian, Debbie Gruenstein & Ernst, Keith S. & Li, Wei, 2008. "Race, ethnicity and subprime home loan pricing," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 60(1-2), pages 110-124.
    7. Neil Bhutta & Steven Laufer & Daniel R. Ringo, 2017. "Residential Mortgage Lending in 2016: Evidence from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Data," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), vol. 103(6), November.
    8. Hanson, Andrew & Hawley, Zackary & Martin, Hal & Liu, Bo, 2016. "Discrimination in mortgage lending: Evidence from a correspondence experiment," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 48-65.
    9. Patrick Bayer & Fernando Ferreira & Stephen L. Ross, 2017. "The Vulnerability of Minority Homeowners in the Housing Boom and Bust: Corrigendum," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 344-345, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Bin Wei & Feng Zhao, 2022. "Racial Disparities in Mortgage Lending: New Evidence Based on Processing Time," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2022-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    3. Neil Bhutta & Aurel Hizmo & Daniel R. Ringo, 2022. "How Much Does Racial Bias Affect Mortgage Lending? Evidence from Human and Algorithmic Credit Decisions," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2022-067, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    4. Tahsin, Salman, 2022. "Home price growth and minority access to mortgage credit," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    5. Neil Bhutta & Aurel Hizmo & Daniel R. Ringo, 2024. "How Much Does Racial Bias Affect Mortgage Lending? Evidence from Human and Algorithmic Credit Decisions," Working Papers 24-09, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Discrimination; Fair lending; Mortgage; Points; Interest rate; FHA; Consumer protection; High-cost mortgage;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • R51 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Finance in Urban and Rural Economies

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