Homeownership is on the rise, but racial gaps persist
Despite record-high home prices in recent years, rates of ownership are up — but affordability and access to credit pose tough challenges for people of color.
Key points:
- The overall U.S. homeownership rate increased to 65.24% in 2023, reversing the decline reported in 2022, according to the most recent data in a new NAR report.
- While the Hispanic homeownership rate fell slightly in 2023, Black and Asian communities made gains.
- Still, there is a stark difference between Black and white homeownership rates, and the gulf was even wider in 2023 compared to a decade earlier.
Homeownership has increased among many people of color despite ongoing affordability struggles, but wide gaps remain between the numbers of white and minority homeowners, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors.
The association's 2025 Snapshot of Race and Home Buying in America found that the national homeownership rate increased to 65.24% in 2023, a reversal of the downward tick recorded in 2022. The new rate marked an increase of 0.06 percentage points year-over-year and a gain of 1.7 percentage points from 10 years earlier — even as home prices shot up by roughly 43% during that decade-long period.
Large swings in homeownership rates
Broken out by race, Asian, Black and white homeownership rates all increased between 2022 and 2023, while the Hispanic homeownership rate experienced a slight decline. But there were large differences — ranging from 9 to nearly 30 percentage points — in the homeownership rates of different groups.
The biggest racial gap was between white and Black homeowners. Though the number of Black homeowners increased in 2023, the rate of homeownership was just 44.7% for that demographic, compared with 72.4% for white Americans — a gap of nearly 28 percentage points, which has widened since 2013, when it was just under 27.
Other racial groups have narrowed the gap during the same 10-year period, however. The Asian homeownership rate in 2023 was the second highest at 63.4% — a slight increase over 2022 and up 5.6 percentage points since 2013. The Hispanic homeownership rate posted the only year-over-year decrease, falling 0.1 percentage point to 51%, but it has risen 5.8 percentage points in the last decade.
Data breakdowns by state showed larger fluctuations, with Black homeownership rates as low as 10% in North Dakota and as high as 58% in Mississippi. Overall homeownership rates only reached or exceeded 80% in three states — Delaware, Mississippi and South Carolina — and only among white homeowners.
Meanwhile, Asian homeownership rates ranged from 30% in North Dakota to 75% in Hawaii, while Hispanic homeownership rates hit a low of 26% in North Dakota and a high of 67% in New Mexico.
More people of color entering the market
More than eight in 10 U.S. homebuyers in 2023 were white, according to data from a separate NAR study. But only about 20% of white homebuyers were making their first purchase. In contrast, 49% of Black homebuyers were entering the market for the first time, compared with 43% of Asian buyers and 41% of Hispanics.
Jessica Lautz, the deputy chief economist and vice president of research at NAR, said in a news release that first-time buyers were "more likely" to be people of color. The trend demonstrates "the importance of changing demographics and the age of local populations," which she added "will increase non-White homeownership over time."
Affordability, access to credit pose challenges
Housing affordability remained a common concern for all prospective buyers, but high rent costs made it especially challenging for some groups to save. More than half of Black and Hispanic renters ages 25 to 40 spent over 30% of their income on housing, exceeding the threshold of what is considered affordable.
In comparison, 39% of white renters and 36% of Asian renters spent a similar share of income on housing.
For those already in the market, median household incomes were highest among Asian buyers at $135,000 and lowest among Hispanic buyers at $96,300. Black and white buyers fell in between at $100,000 and $110,000, respectively. Larger percentages of Black and Hispanic buyers — 42% and 23% — also had student loan debt, compared with 15% of white buyers and 14% of Asian buyers.
Faced with lower median income levels and more student debt, gaining access to credit was tougher for Black and Hispanic buyers. More than 20% of Black mortgage applicants and 17% of Hispanic applicants were denied loans in 2023, and those who were approved were more likely to take on loans with higher interest rates, NAR's report said.