Dive Brief:
- As difficult as the U.S. housing market has been generally in recent years, new studies show that black and Hispanic suffered more in the crash, and lag far behind in seeking mortgages to become homeowners.
- Hispanics are 17% of the population and 5% of the mortgage applicants, and blacks are 12% and 3%, respectively, according to a report by Trulia and the National Urban League.
- Once minorities get homes, twice as much of their personal wealth is linked to their houses' increasing in value – 50% for blacks and Hispanics, 25% for whites, a Russell Sage Foundation study found.
Dive Insight:
The more homeowners' wealth is in their homes, the harder they are hit if values go down. From 2007 through 2013, a quarter of black and Hispanic homeowners lost their homes to foreclosure or got seriously behind on their mortgages— while that happened to about 12% of white homeowners.