Middle-class minorities priced out of hot West Coast markets

Middle-class African-American and Hispanic families are being virtually priced-out of many hot housing markets on the West Coast according to Redfin

Middle-class minorities priced out of hot West Coast markets
Middle-class African-American and Hispanic families are being virtually priced-out of many hot housing markets on the West Coast according to Redfin.
 
The real estate firm’s analysis found that just 18% of homes for sale in the 30 largest US metros were affordable for middle-class Hispanic families and just 14% were affordable for African-American families.
 
These rates have fallen 11 percentage points since 2012.
 
“American cities are at risk of losing both the economic and racial diversity that has been their hallmark,” said Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson. “Middle-class homebuyers are being priced out of America’s largest cities at an alarming rate, as the home affordability gap gets wider. Given the significantly lower rates of homeownership among African-American and Hispanic families, the reduction in affordable listings has even more dire consequences for income inequality when broken out by race.”
 
For those earning the median income, just 2% of homes in the Denver metro were affordable for Hispanic or African-American families compared to 8.3% for white families; this is the smallest racial gap of the 30 metros surveyed.
 
The largest gap is in Minneapolis where white families can afford 66% of homes while for Hispanics it’s 24.8% and for African-Americans its is just 5.2%.
 
“Federal and state governments can do much more to be influential in local housing policy,” said Richardson. “That’s where the crisis starts–at the neighborhood level–when people vote against inclusionary zoning policies, making it difficult or impossible to build higher-density, affordable housing in a community.”
 
He added “Federal and states governments can reward communities that change to inclusionary zoning practices by offering them infrastructure investments to improve the neighborhoods. That way, inclusionary zoning is more appealing to longtime residents.”
 
The full report is available on the Redfin blog.