New data published by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has determined the Black homeownership rate experienced the greatest year-over-year increase in 2023 among racial groups, but it was still lower than the rates recorded by other demographics.
The Black homeownership rate (44.7%, up by 0.6 percentage points) achieved the highest annual gain among all races in 2023. Still, the share of Black homeowners was below levels recorded by Hispanics (51%, -0.1 percentage points), Asians (63.4%, +0.1 percentage points) and Whites (72.4%, +0.1 percentage points).
The overall US homeownership rate was higher in 2023 (65.2%) than a decade ago (63.5% in 2013), with approximately 11.8 million more homeowners. Hispanic Americans registered the largest homeownership rate increase (+5.8 percentage points or 3.5 million homeowners), followed by Asians (+5.6 percentage points or 1.6 million homeowners), Whites (+3.6 percentage points or 702,200 homeowners) and Black Americans (+2.8 percentage points or nearly 1.2 million homeowners). Even with improvements, NAR observed the Black-White homeownership rate gap has widened since 2013, standing at 28 percentage points.
NAR also found that Black homeowners experience higher housing cost burdens in 39 states, spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs. Black (21%) and Hispanic (17%) applicants face significantly higher mortgage denial rates compared to White (11%) and Asian (9%) applicants. Black homeowners also pay more for homeowners’ insurance than any other group – in 2023, the median homeowners’ insurance cost was $1,360 for Blacks, $1,330 for Asians, $1,310 for Whites and $1,300 for Hispanic homeowners.
Black (47%) and Asian (33%) buyers were most likely to report discrimination during their transaction in the type of loan product they were offered; 5% of Blacks and Asians and 2% of Hispanic buyers experienced discrimination based on race.
“Today’s first-time home buyers continue to face housing affordability and credit-access challenges, but the situation nationwide varies when assessing purchasing power,” said Jessica Lautz, NAR deputy chief economist and vice president of research. “Buyers have always had to consider total home costs – including utilities, insurance and commuting expenses – which are especially important when taking the initial steps into ownership.”
