Black Homeownership Rates Trended Up in Second Half of 2019

Seattle, WA, February 21, 2020-Recent trends in the black homeownership rate show an increasing number are becoming homeowners, according to Zillow. 

The homeownership rate for black households jumped 3.4 percentage points over the second half of 2019, bringing it from a three-decade low to back near historic averages. A deeper analysis by Zillow revealed some metro areas across the U.S. where the black homeownership rate is higher than other large metros with comparably sized black populations. 

The black homeownership rate has experienced its share of ups and downs in the past half-century-gains during the last half of the 20th century, then an outsized drop during the mid-2000s housing bust before these recent signs of a bounceback. The rate of homeownership for black households rose from 41.6% in 1970 to a peak of 46.5% in 2007. But homeowners of color were hit the hardest during the Great Recession, and by 2016 the black homeownership rate had plummeted all the way below 1970 levels. At the end of 2019, 44% of black households owned their home, an increase from lows hit during 2016 but still below the 2007 peak.