(RECAP: Is there still a gender gap when it comes to mortgages? While single women have come a long way from the days when a man had to guarantee their mortgage, the Urban Institute thinks that they, or perhaps more correctly the industry, still have a long way to go. Urban Institute researchers write that female only borrowers made up 20 percent of those taking a mortgage in 2014. This is a group that is disproportionately minority and lower income yet are better than men at paying their mortgages. Still they get no price break for this performance and are denied mortgages at higher rates than men. While the share of female-only borrowers has declined slightly since the boom, it averaged 21.5 percent across the decade ending in 2014. Male-only borrowers accounted for a 29 percent share and male-female borrowers accounted for 48 percent.)