LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Despite historic low mortgage interest rates and other factors spurring U.S. home sales, a homeownership gap between whites and minorities persists, a study released Wednesday shows.
Homeownership has increased since the 1980s, largely as household income has grown, but the rate of homeownership among blacks and Hispanics remains far below that of whites, according to the report conducted by the University of Southern California's Lusk Center for Real Estatecolor>.
The study was based on housing data over a 20-year period ending in 2001.
During that time, the average gap in homeownership between whites and blacks was about 26 percentage points; between whites and Hispanics, there was an average 28 percentage point gap, according to the study.
"In rough terms, three-fourths of the white population are homeowners, whereas, in rough terms, half of black and Latino households own their own homes," said Stuart Gabriel, director of the Lusk Centercolor>. "So, it's a very substantial difference."
As of the second quarter of 2004, the national homeownership rate reached 69 percent. Seventy-six percent of whites were homeowners, while 50 percent of blacks and 47 percent for Hispanics owned a home, the study said.
Low-mortgage interest rates and flexible home loan packages have made it possible for many people to enter the real estate market in recent years, but the homeownership gaps between whites and nonwhites remain far apart, Gabriel said.
The homeownership gap is likely due to a gap between whites and minorities in socio-economic status, Gabriel said.