This statistic may reflect both the demographic and cultural situation. A reasonable assumption is that the pool of female applicants includes many who are heads of household. Census figures for the state show female heads of household exist at the rate of one for every five married-couple families. This study did not examine co-applicants. Consequently, there may be many women left undetected by this study.
More research is needed to confirm the degree of female participation in mortgage lending.
It appears that women, on the whole, have as good a chance as men at having their mortgage applications approved and should be encouraged to apply. At the state and top 50 totals, women had mortgages approved at the same rate as men. At certain income and racial categories, female origination rates even exceeded that of males. Race and income, more than gender, seems to determine who gets mortgages. Two findings lead to this conclusion.