Mortgage Lending Activity in the Philadelphia Metro Area

This report offers a glimpse into mortgage lending activity in the city of Philadelphia for 2023. Tight inventory, high interest rates and prices rising at a level that was greater than people experienced in their paychecks suppressed homebuying. And with interest rates hovering in the 6-7% range, there was no economic upside for many people to refinance.

The stubborn disparities that we and others observe in the quest to obtain home mortgages for Black and Hispanic applicants compared to White not Hispanic applicants remain–and they remain largely unchanged over the last several years. Categorizing people as well qualified and not well qualified based on LTV and DTI ratios shows that Black not Hispanic and Hispanic applicants who are well qualified are denied at rates that exceed similarly qualified (or even less well qualified) White not Hispanic applicants. This finding is a clear indication that more work needs to be done to ensure that people’s experiences getting mortgages to buy homes and refinance their existing mortgages are the same, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or the income level of the neighborhood in which they live.

This year’s report includes a set of parallel figures for Philadelphia’s suburban counties (Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery in Pennsylvania; Burlington, Camden and Gloucester in New Jersey). And it also includes a set of ranking tables so the public can see how their institution is doing meeting the credit needs of their communities.