Black Homeownership Rate Stagnant for Generations

Homeownership is playing a “major role” in the recurring racial wealth gap in the US, according to new data from Apartment List.

Black homeownership rate remains stubbornly low, reflecting the ongoing legacy of a troubling past, according to its analysts Rob Warnock and Chris Salviati.

The Black homeownership rate currently stands at 44 percent, consistent with a broader nationwide trend, and Black homeownership has been rising for the past half-decade, up from a recent low of 40.8 percent in 2016.

During the most recent five-year span, the number of Black homeowners increased by roughly 750,000, and the aggregate value of their owned homes has increased $700 million, Apartment List finds.

The rate, however, remains low “and has been mostly stagnant for several decades,” Apartment List writes.

Part of the reason is generational. The authors write with Black millennials are not keeping pace with earlier generations. Actually, starting with baby boomers, every generation of Black Americans has attained homeownership at a slower pace than the generation that preceded them, according to the report.

Another culprit was the Great Recession when Black and brown borrowers received a disproportionate share of subprime mortgages in the years leading up to the crash, “and when the bubble burst, Black homeowners were 76 percent more likely than white homeowners to experience foreclosure.”

The Charleston, S.C, metropolitan area is the top performing Black homeownership area, with 58.1 percent of Black households owning their homes.

Columbia, S.C., ranks second and the Augusta, Ga., is third. Atlanta and Washington DC are the only two major urban metros (population >5 million) where more than half of Black households own their homes.