摘要
This study employed data on US mortgage rates from 2009 to 2017 to study the effect of gender on the mortgage rate. Preliminary examination revealed that women faced a comparatively high mortgage rate. This condition was most severe during 2012–2014, when female borrowers must pay an average of 0.1 percentage points higher rates than male peers. However, regression analysis indicated that income might exert diverse effects on the interest rates received by women. In terms of default risk assessment, lenders may distinguish between female borrowers with different incomes, causing income to become the key factor determining the interest rate received by female borrowers. This study adopted income as a threshold condition to estimate the effect of various default risk factors on mortgage rates. The obtained result indicated that during 2009–2017, women’s status shifted from disadvantageous to advantageous in the mortgage market. Female borrowers who belonged to the highest income group received their lowest interest rates in 2015–2017, which were 0.026 percentage points lower than those faced by male peers in the same financial position. Based on relevant behavioral differences between men and women proposed in literature, reasons for this phenomenon are proposed.