Despite the real estate crisis in 2008 and its lasting implications, owning a home remains one of the most common ways for American families to invest their savings and create wealth. Nevertheless, homeownership is easier for White families than for black and Hispanic Americans.These minority groups are much less likely to purchase a home, and if they do, they will probably face extra challenges in getting mortgages and home loans. 

According to a recent Pew Resarch Center report, Black and Hispanic households today are still far less likely than white households to own their own homes (41.3% and 47%, respectively, versus 71.9% for whites), and the homeownership gap between blacks and whites has widened since 2004. The report, released on Tuesday, indicates some of the continuing challenges black and Hispanic homebuyers and would-be homebuyers face. Among other things, they have a much harder time getting approved for conventional mortgages than whites and Asians, and when they are approved they tend to pay higher interest rates.

In 2015, 27.4% of black applicants and 19.2% of Latino applicants were denied mortgages, compared with about 11% of white and Asian applicants, according to Pew analysis of data. 

The reasons lenders cite for turning down mortgage applications show different patterns depending on racial or ethnic group. Among whites, Hispanics and Asians rejected for conventional home loans, for instance, the most frequently cited reason was that their debt-to-income ratio was too high (25%, 26% and 29%, respectively). Among blacks, the most often cited reason was a poor credit history (31%).

Even if denial rates had remained constant far fewer blacks and Hispanics would be receiving home loans, because mortgage applications from those groups have fallen dramatically. 

Read the full Pew Research Center report here.