3.2.3 RACE/ETHNICITY
There is no publicly available race and ethnicity data for HECM borrowers, so we have
to rely on published program evaluations and survey data. Early in the HECM
program, some observers raised concerns that nonwhite homeowners were underrepresented
among borrowers. In a 1995 analysis, only 7 percent of borrowers were
nonwhite, while the underlying population of homeowners age 62 and over was 11
percent nonwhite in 1997.142 By 1999, the proportion of nonwhite HECM borrowers
had risen to nearly match the underlying population.143 In 2006, nonwhite reverse
mortgage borrowers in an AARP survey were actually over-represented compared to
the underlying population.