The sharp increase was attributed to the rising number of buyers with shaky credit who could afford only small down payments.  This shows one in four home buyers took out a high-priced mortgage, which double rates in 2004. 

Last year, 55 percent of blacks and 46 percent of Hispanics took out high-cost loans. For whites and Asians, the rate was 17 percent. Even after adjusting for borrower and lender characteristics, there was a 10 percentage-point gap between the number of blacks and whites who took out high-cost mortgages. Minorities were also denied loans more often than whites were.

Edwina Baniqued