The homeownership rate has stabilized at about 66 percent in the United States after temporarily increasing amid COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, but the dream of being in that number remains unrealized for many Black people.
According to NBC News, Thursday’s news release from the National Association of Realtors revealed that the homeownership disparity between Black and white Americans reached a 10-year high over the past decade. The gap now stands at 29 percent, up from 26 percent in 2011.
The Black American homeownership rate increased by less than half of one percentage point between 2011 and 2021, rising from 43.6 percent to 44 percent. The proportion increased by roughly 3 points for white Americans, from approximately 70 percent to 72.7 percent.
As a result of recent hikes in mortgage rates and overall higher house prices, affordability levels have fallen to their lowest ever. NAR says that to buy a median-priced house without going over their budget, buyers must now make more than $100,000 per year.
Although it is unlikely the only factor, experts frequently cite lower incomes as a cause of Black families’ low rate of homeownership. Compared with white households, which had an average annual income of $85,000, the average Black family purchasing a home had a median income of $80,000.
“Even among successful home buyers, Black Americans have lower household incomes,” Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist and vice president of research for NAR, shared in a statement, NBC reported. “[This] narrows the available pool of inventory they may be able to afford and makes their journey into homeownership even more difficult in this limited housing inventory environment.”
NAR assesses that while 17 percent of white renters can afford to buy a home for the national median price of $467,700, only 9 percent of Black renters can.
According to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act statistics cited…
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