Making the financial system fairer for minorities with data science

Research conducted by:

Brent Ambrose, Smeal Professor of Real Estate

Tags:

real estate social justice

Research Summary:

Mortgage agents can assess fees, such as the broker origination fee, which are negotiable, or can even be waived. This study may help the mortgage process be more fair and more affordable for minority borrowers. Poring through a dataset of 25,000 different mortgage brokers and relying on inference methods from U.S. Census records, researchers found that when minorities seek mortgages they may pay more in mortgage fees than white borrowers when they seek loans from white mortgage agents.