Minority Home lending up sharply in 2005.

Minority buyers made up the fastest growing segment of all new home purchase mortgages in 2005, according to a new analysis released today at the Second Annual Mortgage Lending Industry Diversity and Emerging Markets Conference & Career Fair in the Washington, D.C. region.

“The 2005 Minority Home Buying Surge” report finds that the percentage increase for all minority loans in “high volume areas” combined was three times greater in the top 20 mortgage growth metropolitan areas than for White households, and the increase for Hispanic, African American, and Asian loans was up to five times greater. The report was issued by Genworth Mortgage Insurance and Compliance Technologies (ComplianceTech), the co-sponsors of the diversity conference.

“We are now witnessing the positive effects of the growth in immigrant households who want to own a piece of the American Dream,” said Michael Taliefero, Managing Director of ComplianceTech. “While immigration is part of the story, the lower homeownership rates among African Americans and Hispanics represent pent up mortgage demand that is starting to be filled.”

Using newly released 2005 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data, the new report, prepared by ComplianceTech, analyzes the change in minority home purchase loans between 2004 and 2005 in 388 metro areas. Minority borrowers had a greater percent change than Whites in 320 of those markets.

“Despite the nationwide cooling in home buying, minorities represented a significantly larger percentage of new purchases in 2005 than they did in 2004,” said Kevin Schneider, president of Genworth Financial’s U.S. mortgage insurance business. “We’re determined to help close the homeownership gap, and it’s good to see that progress is being made.”

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