Even as home prices have skyrocketed during the pandemic, homeownership continues to grow. But the rate of home buying has not increased at the same pace for all Americans, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors.
More Americans own a home now than in any year following the Great Recession, with the US homeownership rate climbing to 65.5% in 2020, according to NAR. That’s up 1.3% from 2019, the largest annual increase on record.
But Black homeownership, at 43.4%, remains lower than it was a decade ago. And it is nearly 30 percentage points behind the white homeownership rate of 72.1%. Meanwhile, the Hispanic homeownership rate rose to an all-time high, reaching over 50% for the first time, and the Asian homeownership rate is 61.7%.
“Housing affordability and low inventory has made it even more challenging for all buyers to enter into homeownership, but even more so for Black Americans,” said Jessica Lautz, NAR vice president of demographics and behavioral insights.
