About three-fourths of whites have houses, compared with half of blacks or Hispanics.
LOS ANGELES – 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 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 report.
"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 of 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 wide, Gabriel said.
"We're making good progress, and that's evidenced all around us," he said. "It's just that it's troubling that despite all of the economic growth and mortgage-market innovation and housing-policy emphasis on homeownership ... these gaps have largely persisted."
The homeownership gap likely stems from a socioeconomic gap between whites and minorities, Gabriel said.
While the government has sought to provide housing incentives aimed at increasing minority homeownership, a better strategy might be promoting programs designed to increase economic opportunity through better jobs or education, Gabriel said.
Ensuring minorities receive better access to credit could also help, he added.
The study did not break out specific homeownership rates for other minorities.