The recent economic recession and its aftermath have put home ownership among Black and Hispanic Americans back by 20 years, according to a new study. The report by the Bipartisan Policy Center indicates that home ownership rates among those groups dropped sharply between 2004 and 2010.
“The overall home ownership rate of 65.1 percent in April 2010 was 1.1 percentage points lower than 10 years earlier,” the report said. “Blacks ended the 2010s with a lower home ownership rate, 44.3 percent, than their 1990 rate of 45.2 percent and 2 percentage points lower than just 10 years earlier.”
The study shows home ownership among Black Americans now lags behind the level of white home ownership by about 28 percent, an even larger gap than in 1990.
In addition, home ownership fell modestly among non-Hispanic white Americans who are under the age of 65, the study said. The rate of home ownership fell even more sharply for Black Americans between the ages of 35 and 64.
“Hispanics saw a strong increase in home ownership during the housing boom but lost all of these gains in the bust,” the report said.
That decline in home ownership has had dire consequences for the overall wealth of Black and Hispanic Americans, the report said. Between 2005 and 2009, Hispanic-Americans lost two-thirds of their median household wealth, while African-Americans lost more than half, the Pew Research Center reported.

BET National News - Keep up-to-date with breaking news stories from around the nation, including headlines from the hip hop and entertainment world.

 (Photo: AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)