Facebook
X
Pinterest
Copy Link
Homeownership has been an important aspect of building wealth and pursuing the American Dream. Unfortunately, not all American families have had the same access to this dream historically. Some families have encountered institutional racism, exclusions from lending, lack resources, and other barriers. This has made homeownership among minorities a tremendous struggle over the years, and it remains apparent to this day.
For White Americans, homeownership rate, has been nearly 70 percent since 2017. For Black Americans that figure has been about 30 percentage points lower, sitting at just over 41 percent for the same time frame, according to a 2022 National Association of Realtors (NAR) report entitled Snapshot of Race and Home Buying in America. And according to a report from the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP), the homeownership rate for Hispanic Americans came slightly above 47 percent until 2021, when it jumped to 48.4 percent.
“For the past century, people of color have sought homeownership and often met the qualifications for homeownership, but encountered discrimination from institutions,” says Bryan Green, NAR’s vice president for policy advocacy. “It’s that history and other exclusion — from jobs, opportunities, and mainstream life — that created the economic and social disadvantages that the country seeks to overcome.”
In recent years, programs & associations designed to provide education about real estate purchases and assist low-income and first-time homebuyers with financing have helped minorities narrow the homeownership gap.
Here are two insights that I came across in 2022 that made me want to promote equity and inclusion, contribute to building wealth and removing barriers that have contributed to inequities
- In 2021, 40.8 percent of Latino adults aged 45 and under were mortgage-ready.
- Prospective Latino buyers experienced a 19.1 percent home-purchase denial rate for conventional loans in 2021, and were 81 percent more likely to be denied than non-Latino home buyers.
Bottom Line:
Homeownership among minorities has been a tremendous struggle over the years, and it remains apparent to this day. There are programs that advocate special needs of economically disadvantaged groups, inclusive of race and ethnicity, national origin, location, or gender. If you have questions about homeownership or overcoming economic challenges to get you closer to your American Dream, please contact me.
