For most Americans, buying a home will be the biggest purchase they ever make.
Getting a mortgage is not a fun process for anyone, but it’s notably harder for single women than any other group.
Solo female mortgage applicants made up 21.9% of potential homebuyers in 2024, while sole men accounted for 32.8%. That means there were 1.5 solo male applicants for every solo female applicant.
Solo women applicants, however, are 29.8% more likely to be denied a mortgage than solo males, according to a LendingTree study.
Key findings of the Lending Tree study:
- Sole women made up 21.9% of potential homebuyers in 2024, compared with 32.8% for sole men — 1.5 men for every woman. Sole female applicants face higher denial rates but originate conventional 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages for smaller amounts, resulting in lower monthly payments amid slightly better average interest rates.
- The District of Columbia is the only state where the percentage of sole female applicants is higher than that among sole males (32.0% versus 29.2%). Utah has the largest gap (125.4%), with over twice as many sole men applying as sole women (30.2% versus 13.4%). Alaska (101.1% more sole male applicants than sole females) and North Dakota (100.0% more) follow.
- Sole female applicants are 29.8% more likely to be denied a mortgage than sole males (15.7% versus 12.1%). The largest disparities are in Louisiana (29.0% versus 18.1%), Mississippi (29.0% versus 19.8%) and Alabama (21.9% versus 14.8%). Denial rates among sole men exceed those among sole women in six states — D.C., Alaska, Hawaii, Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island.
- Sole men who originate mortgages pay more monthly than sole women in every state. Sole men originate conventional 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages with higher average loan amounts in every state. In Vermont, Iowa and Wyoming, the monthly payment differences are under $100. The largest gaps are in Hawaii ($649), California ($640) and Washington ($578).
- In 2024, sole women originated $173.3 billion in mortgage debt, while sole men originated a much more significant $328.7 billion. In total, sole women originated 600,817 loans, while men originated 949,477. (This is across all primary home purchases in 2024, not just those with conventional 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages.)
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Why are more solo women denied a mortgage?
LendingTree chief consumer finance analyst Matt Schulz explained why many women have a harder time getting a mortgage.
“Women tend to have smaller incomes than men, and that can create homebuying challenges,” he shared. “While income doesn’t factor into your credit score, it massively affects your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio, your ability to save for a down payment and your comfort level with a long-term financial commitment like buying a house.”
Schulz made it very clear that income was the major factor.
“Those things matter a lot. Of course, when it comes to men being more likely than women to buy a home, there are other factors as well, including sexism, but it’s hard to overstate how important income is to the homebuying process,” he added.
An Urban.org report backs up Schulz’s thinking.
“Single borrowers face higher mortgage interest rates than partnered cogender borrowers. Solo female borrowers face even higher interest rates than their male counterparts because they have weaker credit profiles and a higher percentage of higher-priced (subprime) loans,” it noted.
NAWRB, a women’s housing advocacy group does think discrimination is part of the problem.
“Discrimination in the lending process is often rooted by the outside influence of discrimination of women in the workplace. The pay inequality of women in the workplace makes it more difficult for women to build a strong credit profile, which ultimately makes it difficult to secure favorable loan terms or obtain mortgage loan approval. This pay inequality also predisposes women to receiving less favorable loan terms than men,” it shared.
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