Date: Wednesday 1/31 at 11:00 AM Eastern Time

Speaker:  Sonia Gilbukh (CUNY)

Paper Title: How the Source of Financing Discrimination Affects Housing Opportunities for FHA Buyers

Abstract: Using proprietary data on for-sale real estate listings from three major metropolitan areas, we find that 42% of listings of FHA-eligible homes explicitly state that they are not to be advertised to FHA borrowers. We thus find that the FHA and VA loan programs significantly limit the choice set of properties for these borrowers. We find that location and time accounts for only about 10% of the variation in whether the listing is advertised to FHA borrowers, but real estate agents explain over 40% of the variation. We further find that having participated in an FHA transaction (either as a buyer or a selling agent), agents are 10pp more likely to have their subsequent listings advertised to FHA borrowers. We thus document an important role that real estate agents play in market access for FHA borrowers, in part because the agents expect the program to be difficult to navigate.

Registration Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CTfO2-JcRae7S547ijbJdg