Dive Brief:
- U.S. Hispanic and black populations were the groups most adversely affected by the housing crash, and they remain in recovery mode, the Associated Press reported.
- Black and Hispanic homeownership has not increased to levels anywhere near what they were precrash, jeopardizing wealth creation "for generations of minority families."
- According to the Census Bureau, 41.5% of black households and 45.3% of Hispanic households are homeowners, as compared to 72.1% of whites.
Dive Insight:
Last year, the Urban Institute predicted that Hispanic homeownership would rise over the next 15 years but that black homeownership would drop even further to 40%, given the country's current rate of growth, the AP reported.
A study by University of Buffalo professor Gregory Sharp and Cornell University professor Matthew Hall found that "race was the leading explanation for why people lost homes they owned and turned back to rentals." Sharp and Hall also said that minorities were "exploited" by the mortgage lending system, a circumstance which has led to blacks being 50% more likely than whites to lose their homes and enter the rental market.
A March Zillow Housing Confidence Index survey found that 63% of people of color associate homeownership with the American Dream and that, among that number, 70% of Hispanics, 64% of Asians and 63% of blacks value homeownership. The same survey determined that Hispanics and millennials were the groups most contributing to higher housing market confidence.
Also in March, a joint report from the Hispanic Wealth Project and the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals found that the Hispanic homeownership rate in 2015 had its biggest full-year increase in more than 10 years — 44.5% to 46.7%. Since 2000, Hispanic homeownership has risen by 2.8 million to 7 million, while the number of non-Hispanic homeowners dropped by 85,000 in the same period.
