The 15 US cities where it's hardest to get a mortgage, ranked

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Mortgage denials are at their lowest rate since at least 2004. But in some places, it's still difficult to get approved.

• LendingTree has released an analysis ranking the US cities where applicants are most likely to be denied a mortgage.
• Of the top 15 cities where borrowers are most likely to be denied, four are in Florida.
• The hardest city to get approved for a mortgage is Miami, where 11.6% of applicants are rejected.
• The most common reason for an applicant to be denied is their debt-to-income ratio, followed by credit history.
• Despite this, mortgage denials across the board are at their lowest rate since at least 2004.
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LendingTree released an analysis ranking the US cities where applicants are most likely to be denied a mortgage.

Of the top 15 cities where it's hardest to get a mortgage, four are in Florida. Cities in California, Texas, and Michigan also made the list.

LendingTree analyzed data from more than 10 million mortgage applications using Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data for 2018, the most recent available year.

The most common reason for an applicant to be denied was their debt-to-income ratio, followed by credit history, the study found. The analysis also found evidence of racial discrepancies: African-American borrowers had the highest mortgage denial rates at 17.4%, while non-Hispanic whites had the lowest at 7.9%.

Overall, mortgage denials are at their lowest rate since at least 2004, according to LendingTree. At the national level, 9.8% of loan applications were denied in 2018 - nearly 1 in 10 would-be borrowers.

Here are the 15 American cities where applicants are most likely to be denied a mortgage, ranked.