In the 2024 public HMDA data, investment-property purchase loans were denied less often than owner-occupied ones: 13.1% of investor decisions against 15.1% of owner-occupied decisions. That runs against the common assumption that investors face tougher approval odds. The gap reverses in 21 of the 43 markets we could measure (1 more tie at one decimal), so the national figure hides real local differences. This page shows the counts, the state table, the method, and what the data cannot tell you.
What we measured
We started from the CFPB’s public Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data for filing year 2024 and kept only:
- loans for home purchase (loan purpose 1),
- first-lien loans,
- properties with one to four units,
- owner-occupied principal residences (occupancy type 1) or investment properties (occupancy type 3),
- applications that ended in an origination (action 1) or a denial (action 3).
Withdrawn, incomplete, approved-but-not-accepted, and purchased-loan records are left out, because they are not approve-or-deny decisions. The denial figure is denials divided by originations plus denials: the denial share among applications that ended in an origination or a denial. Withdrawn, incomplete, and approved-but-not-accepted applications are excluded, and if they differ by occupancy the gap could change. It is not a share of everyone who ever inquired, and it is not an interest rate. “Investor” here means HMDA occupancy type 3 (investment property), which is separate from the business-purpose flag. Investment-property records include both business-purpose and consumer-purpose loans; we did not separate them.
National result
| Occupancy | Originated | Denied | Decisions | Denied, % of decisions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner-occupied (principal residence) | 2,979,289 | 527,882 | 3,507,171 | 15.1% |
| Investment property | 314,530 | 47,533 | 362,063 | 13.1% |
Source: CFPB HMDA Data Browser, 2024 filing year, filtered as described above and counted locally from the full nationwide file on 2026-11-09 (4,158,055 records scanned). The national figures include a small number of records with no state, which cannot appear in the state table, so the national figures will not equal the sum of the state rows.
By state
The table lists every state or district with at least 1,000 investor-property decisions in the filtered data. Smaller markets are left out because a few hundred decisions swing a percentage by several points. The gap is investor denial minus owner-occupied denial, in percentage points, so a negative number means investors were denied less.
| State | Investor decisions | Investor denied | Owner-occupied denied | Gap (points) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 6,680 | 13.5% | 22.0% | -8.5 |
| Arizona | 6,550 | 12.2% | 10.9% | +1.3 |
| Arkansas | 5,685 | 7.1% | 23.0% | -15.9 |
| California | 29,614 | 12.1% | 11.5% | +0.6 |
| Colorado | 5,453 | 12.1% | 11.1% | +1.0 |
| Connecticut | 3,590 | 16.5% | 9.5% | +7.0 |
| Delaware | 1,145 | 13.3% | 14.2% | -1.0 |
| Florida | 38,029 | 18.4% | 16.9% | +1.5 |
| Georgia | 14,858 | 14.2% | 15.8% | -1.7 |
| Hawaii | 1,714 | 19.0% | 11.2% | +7.8 |
| Idaho | 1,788 | 10.3% | 8.5% | +1.8 |
| Illinois | 12,062 | 12.8% | 11.5% | +1.3 |
| Indiana | 6,872 | 11.9% | 12.3% | -0.5 |
| Iowa | 3,675 | 5.9% | 10.6% | -4.7 |
| Kansas | 3,461 | 6.2% | 11.0% | -4.8 |
| Kentucky | 5,017 | 9.9% | 23.3% | -13.4 |
| Louisiana | 4,386 | 14.1% | 28.8% | -14.7 |
| Maine | 1,289 | 14.7% | 11.3% | +3.3 |
| Maryland | 6,491 | 15.3% | 9.9% | +5.4 |
| Massachusetts | 6,018 | 10.9% | 8.0% | +2.9 |
| Michigan | 7,911 | 16.2% | 15.8% | +0.4 |
| Minnesota | 4,469 | 8.1% | 8.2% | -0.1 |
| Mississippi | 3,221 | 12.3% | 30.6% | -18.4 |
| Missouri | 10,084 | 7.3% | 10.9% | -3.6 |
| Montana | 1,022 | 11.7% | 11.7% | +0.0 |
| Nebraska | 2,359 | 6.1% | 8.5% | -2.4 |
| Nevada | 4,750 | 12.7% | 11.8% | +0.9 |
| New Jersey | 10,747 | 14.5% | 10.4% | +4.1 |
| New Mexico | 1,372 | 19.2% | 22.2% | -3.0 |
| New York | 14,080 | 16.8% | 12.6% | +4.2 |
| North Carolina | 15,702 | 12.2% | 14.8% | -2.6 |
| Ohio | 13,451 | 12.5% | 10.6% | +1.9 |
| Oklahoma | 7,064 | 6.6% | 20.2% | -13.6 |
| Oregon | 2,512 | 11.3% | 9.5% | +1.9 |
| Pennsylvania | 14,202 | 12.8% | 10.4% | +2.4 |
| South Carolina | 6,651 | 17.1% | 20.3% | -3.2 |
| Tennessee | 10,378 | 11.3% | 15.6% | -4.3 |
| Texas | 36,691 | 13.3% | 19.5% | -6.2 |
| Utah | 2,800 | 13.4% | 10.1% | +3.3 |
| Virginia | 8,447 | 11.7% | 10.6% | +1.1 |
| Washington | 5,918 | 10.4% | 8.3% | +2.1 |
| West Virginia | 1,426 | 12.8% | 23.5% | -10.7 |
| Wisconsin | 5,266 | 8.5% | 9.2% | -0.7 |
What stands out
- Investor denial exceeded owner-occupied denial in 21 of the 43 markets in the table, with 1 tie at one decimal (markets are classified on the gap rounded to one decimal). In 21, investors were denied less often.
- Among states with at least 5,000 investor decisions, the largest positive gaps were Maryland (+5.4 points), New York (+4.2 points), New Jersey (+4.1 points), and the largest negative gaps were Arkansas (-15.9 points), Oklahoma (-13.6 points), Kentucky (-13.4 points).
- The highest investor denial figures among those larger markets were Florida (18.4%), South Carolina (17.1%), New York (16.8%).
The data does not say why. One plausible reading is self-selection: investors who apply for conventional-style purchase financing often bring larger down payments and prior ownership history, so the weaker files may never reach a formal decision. HMDA has no field that lets us test that, so treat it as a hypothesis. Differences in lender mix, product mix, and which properties investors buy in each market could also play a part.
What this data does not show
- It does not measure DSCR lending. HMDA has no field that identifies a DSCR loan or a rent-based qualification, so DSCR cannot be separated from other investor products, and not every originator reports. These figures describe investor purchases reported under HMDA, not DSCR volume or DSCR approval odds.
- It says nothing about price, credit score, or loan-to-value. We did not use those fields, so the comparison is not adjusted for borrower strength.
- Denial is not the only way a loan fails. Applicants who withdraw or never apply do not appear.
- It is one year of data. A single year can reflect that year’s market, so do not read it as a trend.
What it means for an investor
These counts do not say why any single file was denied, so use them as context rather than a prediction for your deal. Programs that qualify the property instead of your tax returns exist for files that do not fit a conventional worksheet. See how DSCR loans work for investors , run your own numbers in the DSCR loan calculator , and read the DSCR loan requirements guide for what a lender reviews beyond the ratio. If a ratio lands under 1.00, the guide to DSCR loans below 1.0 covers the options. For where weekly pricing ranges sit, the non-QM rate index publishes them. Browse all investor loan programs or the Florida and Maryland DSCR pages for local detail.
Reproduce it
Download the 2024 nationwide HMDA file from the CFPB HMDA Data Browser , apply the filters above, and count records by state and occupancy type. The counts here come from the CFPB’s published file, not from our own loan data.