Whites dominate NWA home loan market
While no racial or ethnical group dipped below a 70 percent approval rating for home mortgage loans in the Fayetteville Metro Area, many minorities were not applying for loans at all, according to 2014 data from the Federal Financial Institutions examination council. Whites totaled about 85 percent of the population and almost 88 percent of these loans.
The Hispanic and Latino group portrayed the most dramatic discrepancy: while almost 16 percent of the population identifies as this ethnic category, less than 10 percent make up the total applications for home loans. This group also dips about four points below the average approval rate of 82 percent. Native Americans and Pacific Islanders both rank lowest in approval rating at 71 and 72 percent respectively. These groups combined only comprise 2.4 percent of the population, but are steadily growing in number, according to 2010-2014 Census Data for Northwest Arkansas MSA. About half of Native Americans apply for home mortgage loans and only less than a quarter of Pacific Islanders apply.
Two minority groups that break are African Americans and Asians. African Americans still have a disparity in loan applicants and population, 1.3 percent and 2.2 percent respectively. However, those who do apply are approved 85 percent of the time, which is 3 percent above average and less than two percentage points lower than whites. Asians hold the highest approval rate of any group – including whites – at about 92 percent. There is still a slight lag in applicants, but by less than a 0.2 percent.
Note: All information was calculated using 2014 census and home mortgage loan data of seven categories: American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Island, White, “race not available” and Hispanic or Latino.
Questions for further research: Why are Asians doing so well in the home mortgage loan business? Why are Native Americans and Pacific Islanders struggling in approval and even applying – is it related to the length of time families have been in the area?
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