During the pandemic, Black-owned home values increased faster than home values for all other racial and ethnic groups.
The National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) has released its annual State of Housing in Black America report. Among the chief findings – Black-owned home values are increasing faster than home values for all other racial and ethnic groups. This finding is based on data from Zillow and indicates specifically that Black-owned home values appreciated 42.5 percent from pre-pandemic to January 2023, compared to 37.8 percent for White home values. Home values for all other racial and ethnic groups performed similarly to those of White households.
While this equity boost for Black households is a positive development, the report cites data still indicating that owner-occupied homes in predominantly Black neighborhoods are valued 21 to 23 percent below similar homes in non-Black neighborhoods. This statistic will be an interesting one to watch in future years.
Other key findings in the report include the following:
- The median household income for Whites remained far above that for Blacks, at $81,060 for White households and $52,860 for their Black counterparts.
- Prospective homebuyers needed an annual salary of nearly $100,000 to afford the monthly payments on the median-priced home in the second quarter of 2023, up from just over half of that amount, or $53,000, in 2020.
- The median net worth of White households was $250,400, an amount that is more than 10 times greater than the median net worth of Black households ($24,520).
- Between 2001 and 2016, the number of single-family rental units grew by more than four million, from 10.9 to 15.2. This has significantly reduced the pool of homes available at the lower end of the price spectrum.
“Gaining access to homeownership is one of the most direct and immediate ways to step out of the revolving door of generational economic stagnation,” concludes the report. Unfortunately, reducing the Black homeownership gap continues to be a significant challenge as “less than 10 percent of Black renters can currently afford to buy the median price home.”
Minnesota’s First-Generation Homebuyers Community Down Payment Assistance Fund is one promising development that’s on the way for the upcoming homebuying season, and this may make things easier for prospective buyers here in Minnesota versus those in the rest of the country.
The Center is planning to discuss the 2023 State of Housing in Black America report in more detail in an upcoming episode of the Welcome Home podcast. Leaders with NAREB’s Twin Cities chapter will join host Bill Gray for that discussion.