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Before 1974, it was perfectly legal for lenders to deny credit based solely on gender and race.
The Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 (ECOA), signed by President Gerald Ford 50 years ago on Oct. 28, 1974, changed that. It prevented creditors from discriminating against an applicant because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age or participation in public assistance programs. In 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Regulation B added protection for sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. That has leveled the playing field for everyone with full access to the U.S. credit industry.
Before 1974, it was extremely difficult to buy a home if you weren’t a white man.
Working women were required to find a male co-signer even if they had a down payment and the means to pay their mortgages. We’ve come a long way, but there’s still room for more progress.
Single women own 20.3 million homes in the U.S., compared to single men, who own 14.9 million homes; married couples own 49.3 million homes in 2024, according to the Census Bureau.
In 2023, Asian homeownership for single females was 360,902, single males were 268,540 and married couples reached 3.1 million, according to numbers from the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). Single Black females reached 1.2 million, single males were 770,725 and married couples were at 2.9 million. Single Hispanic females were at 710,631, single males were 685,294 and married couples reached 5.8 million.
NAR found that nearly eight and half million White single women owned homes in 2023, while single white males owned 6.5 million homes. White married couples owned 37.6 million homes. Despite the progress, the numbers clearly show biases against these minority groups continue to persist in present times.