The rate of African Americans becoming homeowners is increasing, according to new analysis conducted by real estate marketplace website Zillow.

Its figures show that the homeownership rate for Black households jumped 3.4 percent over the second half of 2019, bringing it from a three-decade low back to near historic averages.

Previous gains were made during the last half of the 20th century but then heavily sputtered during the mid-2000s housing bust. The rate of homeownership for Black households rose from 41.6 percent in 1970 to a peak of 46.5 percent in 2007.

Homeowners of color, though, were hit the hardest during the Great Recession, and by 2016, Black homeownership had plummeted below 1970’s levels.

At the end of 2019, the rate had climbed back up to 44 percent, an increase from three years before that, but still below 2007’s rate.

"Homeownership has been a key path to wealth creation and stability for generations of Americans," said Zillow economist Jeff Tucker. "It appears that now, more than 10 years after a housing bust that hit black homeowners the hardest, more black families are beginning to move into homeownership. The remaining gap from the 2007 peak shows a long road ahead in the recovery, but this is a step in the right direction."

According to the Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report, Black home buyers are more likely to be at least somewhat concerned about qualifying for a mortgage (59 percent) than white buyers (46 percent). And African American buyers are more likely to be denied financing at least once before being approved for a mortgage (76 percent) than white buyers (15 percent).

Read the full report here.