Mortgage Denial Rate Decreases, Home Ownership More Accessible To All Americans

According to Zillow's recent analytics on mortgage approvals categorized by race, the loosened up mortgage restrictions may have made it possible for more Americans to own a home. But despite the decrease in denial rates, minorities may still have a difficult time achieving a convetional home loan.

Last year, blacks comprise 12% of United State's households, 3% of conventional loan applicants, and 2.5% of those got approved. Similar disparity applies to the Hispanic population.

On a related note, whites comprise the 63% of United State's households last year, 69.5% of conventional mortgage applicants, and 72% of those got approved.

Nonetheless, the good news is that the denial rate for blacks and Hispanics are already dropping, which simply implies that mortgages are becoming more accessable and achievable for more borrowers. The conventional loan denial rate for black applicants went from 28% in 2013 to 23.5% in 2014.

The conventional loan denial rate for Hispanics also went down from 22% in 2013 to 19% in 2014. For whites on the other hand, the drop in percentage isn't very significant, it just went down from 10% to 9%. But still, the overall drop in denial rates for conventional loan application is good news.

Here's a quick glimpse at the metros with the lowest and highest conventional mortgage denial rates last year:

White borrowers are least denied in Raleigh (4.8%) and Richmond (5.3%). The highest denial rate for whites come from Miami (15.6%) and Jacksonville FL (12.8%).

Black borrowers are least denied of a conventional loan in Salt Lake City (9.1%) and San Jose CA (9.8%). The highest denial rate for black conventional loan applicants come from Oklahoma City (31.2%) and Miami (30.3%).

For the Hispanics, the lowest denial rate come from Pittsburg (8.3%) and Raleigh (10.6%). The highest come from Jacksonville (24.7%) and New York Columbus (22.5%).

This general real estate trend that shows a decrease in mortgage denial rate within Americans is great news for many. This only goes to show that owning a home is no longer as difficult as it used to be.