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Mortgage finance agency Freddie Mac found in 2021 that Black and
Latino people were more likely to have their homes valued under
the agreed sales price than white homesellers.
Such an appraisal can limit the size of a mortgage that can be
written on a property, forcing homeowners to sell at a lower
price or cancel a sale altogether. It can also reduce the amount
available during a refinancing.
Senior administration officials said they are working to bolster
appraisal standards, increase the diversity of the workforce
tasked with creating those estimates and make it easier to
report discrimination that violates federal law.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will announce the release of
the plan on Wednesday during a White House event, officials
said.
U.S. officials say the lower appraisals have contributed to the
wide gaps in wealth between Black and Latino Americans and their
white peers. White applicants were found to have received
appraisals lower than their contracted sales price 6.5% of the
time, compared to 9.5% for Latino and 8.6% for Black
applications, according to Freddie.
Last June, Joe Biden became the first sitting U.S. president to
visit the Tulsa, Oklahoma site where hundreds of Black Americans
were massacred by a white mob in 1921 and their property
destroyed.
During a speech there, Biden said he would "combat racial
discrimination in housing" and address racially biased home
appraisals.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Heather Timmons and
Karishma Singh)
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