For decades, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac followed securitization policies that enabled Americans to make a low down payment when they purchased a house. This study analyzes the impact of affordable lending efforts by government-sponsored entities (GSEs) on national homeownership rate, by race, ethnic group, and census region. The results of this study suggest that despite GSE interventions in the housing market, the homeownership gap among races and ethnic groups persists because economic fundamentals and sociodemographic features, not interest rates, drive homeownership rates. This paper uses three series of regression models to gain insight into the determinants of home ownership rates.
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