Racism In Mortgage Rates? Hardly

This NYT article attributes racism to explaining higher interest rates for an all-black neighborhood in Detroit than for an all-white neighborhood in the Detroit suburb of Plymouth, despite similar average income levels. But interest rates also are affected profoundly by:

1. Crime rates, which drive up monthly expenses for home and auto insurance. Plymouth is approximately crime-free, and Detroit is the opposite.
2. Property taxes, which also drive up monthly expenses. Detroit has double the metro average.
3. Consumer credit scores.
4. Resale expectations. If the writer of this article were loaning money for mortgages, where would he rather have to deal with resale? The answer is not even close.

One does not have to look for racism to explain the differences in mortgage rates here.