Power House

The Urban Institute’s Alanna McCargo on black homeownership after COVID-19

Jun 4, 2020

13:40

This week, the Housing News Podcast features a bonus crossover episode from HousingWire’s Daily Download.

In this episode, HousingWire Digital Producer Alcynna Lloyd interviews The Urban Institute‘s Alanna McCargo on how the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to impact America’s black homeownership rate.

For some background on the interview:

Last year, the homeownership rate for black Americans fell to 40.6% in the three months through June, the lowest level in the Census Bureau’s quarterly data going back to 1994, according to a government report. It was the smallest share recorded for black households since the 1950 decennial Census when it was 34.5%.

The downward trajectory began in 2007 when predatory home loans started going into default, sparking a financial crisis that spread across the globe as trillions of dollars in mortgage securities lost value.

While the overall U.S. homeownership rate fell from 68.4% at the beginning of 2007 to 64.1% in 2019’s second quarter – a drop of just over four percentage points – the decline for black Americans was much steeper. The rate went from 48% to 40.6%, dropping more than seven percentage points.

And now data shows, that the coronavirus pandemic is likely to worsen prospects for Black Americans, which will lead to a larger gap in the homeownership rate.

The Housing News Podcast is a weekly wrap of the top news stories by HousingWire CEO Clayton Collins. Each week, HousingWire interviews financial services experts who can help make sense of the latest headlines, sponsored by our partners at Arch MI and Quicken Loans Mortgage Services.

Here are links to the topics discussed:

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