Borrowers from a different shore: Asian outcomes in the U.S. mortgage market

Abstract

Even though Asians are now the largest minority group participating in United States mortgage markets, research on differences in underwriting and pricing outcomes in mortgages typically focuses on the outcomes of African American and Hispanic borrowers. One explanation for the lack of attention on Asian outcomes follows from the perceived relative economic prosperity of this minority group, which may lead to the belief that they are less in need of consumer protection or policy support. While simple group averages of economic characteristics support this belief, documented heterogeneity of Asian experiences suggests that the use of other measures may be needed to account for the varied outcomes of Asians in the U.S. housing markets. Using a unique proprietary source of lender data, we examine these Asian outcomes. We find that Asians face challenges in mortgage markets in ways that may be unique as compared to other minority groups. For example, while an examination of unadjusted average denial rates indicates favorable outcomes for Asians compared to other minority groups, we find that after accounting for loan and borrower characteristics, Asians have denial rates as high as other minority groups.