DC Area Homeownership Gap Less Disparate than Elsewhere

• February 28th 2018

by Nena Perry-Brown

In the wake of data illustrating how the discriminatory practice of redlining is still occurring, it's not surprising that the homeownership rate gap between Black and white households is persistently wide in many parts of the country.

A recent study by the Urban Institute shows that a gap in homeownership rates for Black and white households exists nationwide. Across the 100 metropolitan areas with the largest Black populations, Killeen, Texas has the smallest gap, with a 48.5 percent homeownership rate among the Black population and a 63 percent homeownership rate among the white population. The only other two metro areas with rates lower than 20 percent are Fayetteville, North Carolina and Charleston, South Carolina. 

Interestingly, the DC region is one of five metropolitan areas with the largest number of Black households and also has one of the country's smallest homeownership rate gaps. The homeownership rate for Black households is 48.8 percent while the rate for white households is 71.8 percent, a gap of 23 percent.

As seen in the above graph, the gap in the region has shrunk in recent years. Since 2005, the Black homeownership rate fell by 2.5 percent while the white homeownership rate decreased by 3.6 percent. Prince George's County's continued status as the wealthiest majority-Black county in the country contributes greatly to the area's smaller homeownership rate gap.

Urban Institute used American Community Survey data that covers the entire core-based statistical area, including counties as far north as Frederick County, Maryland, as far south as Spotsylvania, Virginia and as far west as Jefferson County, West Virginia.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dc-area-homeownership-gap-less-disparate-than-elsewhere/13621.