African Americans returning to housing market

The share of African Americans owning homes has increased to above 42% this year, rebounding from a near-50-year low of 41.3% in the third quarter of 2016

African Americans returning to housing market
The share of African Americans owning homes has increased to above 42% this year, rebounding from a near-50-year low of 41.3% in the third quarter of 2016.

The National Association of Real Estate Brokers says that the figures show that its target for Black homeownership is both achievable and a reasonable expectation.

However, it says that federal policy changes are required to tackle unequal access to credit, unfair fees and cost equivalence of mortgage products, and to enhance mortgage loan disposition.

"While economic recovery is still out of reach for far too many Black Americans, NAREB sees a break in the storm. Black consumers are slowly regaining confidence in the marketplace, but institutional obstacles remain," said Jeffrey Hicks, President of NAREB.

NAREB’s 2017 State of Housing in Black America (SHIBA) report highlights that 30% of declined loan applications by Black applicants are due to poor credit history and criticizes the delay in changing government-sponsored enterprises' (GSEs) credit-scoring policy until 2019 “unfair and unnecessary.”

The report warns that Blacks are not enjoying the benefits of the economic rebirth of America’s cities to the extent that Whites are. This, says NAREB, is allowing economic segregation to keep the gap in homeownership wide and daunting.