Today’s tight credit environment has constrained mortgage lending and is disproportionately affecting African American and Hispanic households. As a result, these communities have found it harder to take advantage of the low home prices and interest rates that followed the housing market crash, missing an important opportunity to build wealth through homeownership.
The volume of lending overall and to different racial and ethnic groups fluctuated greatly over the course of the boom and bust, according to records released under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. African American and Hispanic borrowers took out a greater share of mortgages as housing prices neared their peak, arguably the worst time to take out a loan.
