Jacob Faber, "Exploring the Roles of Segregation by Location and Lender on Racial Inequality Mortgage Access"

-
Social Science Matrix, 820 Social Sciences Building

Presented by the UC Berkeley Computational Research for Equity in the Legal System Training Program (CRELS)

 


A rich, multidisciplinary literature has established wide racial disparities in access to home mortgage finance. This paper leverages data on over 28 million mortgage applications submitted between 2007 and 2022 to investigate the intersecting roles of segregation across geographies and segregation across lending institutions in shaping these disparities. While the literature has largely focused on spatial inequality as a driver of racial inequalities in mortgage approval rates, my results suggest that inequality across lending institutions may be an even more important contributor.