CFPB: “Appraisal discrimination is illegal under federal law”

Patrice Alexander Ficklin | Feb. 4, 2022

View the full blog on CFPB’s website

Home ownership is one of the best paths for building intergenerational wealth. But for some homebuyers and owners, a home’s valuation may be skewed by one’s skin color or the demographics of the surrounding community. A biased home appraisal can worsen racial inequities and distort the housing market. That’s why, for more than 50 years, federal law has forbidden racial, religious, and other discrimination in home appraisals. But we still see reports of appraisers who don’t follow the law and base their value judgments on biased, unfounded assumptions about borrowers and the neighborhoods in which they live.

We have also seen the organization that sets the standards for appraisers, The Appraisal Foundation (TAF), fail to include clear warnings about the requirements of federal law in the standards it sets, and in the training it provides for appraisers. TAF is a private, non-governmental organization, and the only entity with the power to set professional standards for appraisers. However, TAF has yet to highlight these important laws even though it frequently revises its standards. These actions undermine a fair and competitive market free of bias and discrimination…. READ FULL BLOG HERE