What does this measure?

The number of owner-occupied units (not rented) as a percent of all occupied units (not vacant), for various racial and ethnic groups.

Why is this important?

Historically, members of some racial and ethnic groups have suffered discrimination in buying homes and accessing home mortgages. A home is a vital financial asset for a family and an investment in both the local neighborhood and surrounding community.

How is the region performing?

In 2019-23, homeownership rates in the region were highest among White and Asian residents, at 76% and 70% respectively, followed by Hispanic residents at 56%, and African American residents at 46%. The racial/ethnic disparity was similar at the national level, however, rates of homeownership among Asians in the region were 8 percentage points higher than the nation. Mid-Hudson Valley's rates were similar to or slightly higher than state (excluding NYC) rates for all groups. Similarly, rates of home ownership in the region have increased for all groups since 2009-13, except for Asian residents who decreased by 1 percentage point. The share of Hispanic homeowners grew the most with an increase 7 percentage points followed by African Americans with an increase of 2 percentage points.

Among the counties, Columbia had the lowest homeownership rates for Asian (53%) and Hispanic (32%) residents. Ulster had the lowest rate of homeownership amongst White residents (73%) and Dutchess had the lowest rate African American residents (37%). Putnam County had the highest rate of homeownership for all racial and ethnic groups. Most of the municipalities in the county did not have large enough populations of residents in each racial or ethnic group for reliable estimates.

Why do these disparities exist?

Disparities in homeownership are connected to racial inequities within systems beyond housing, including financial services, labor market and intergenerational wealth. Historic practices including redlining, exclusionary mortgage practices and restrictive covenants barring property from being owned by members of specific groups directly locked people out of homeownership. These had intergenerational effects when people of color were unable to benefit from wealth transfers of home equity as white homebuyers can. Since Black and Latino households generally have lower wages and wealth accumulation, they have less resources for down payments and higher debt to income ratios. With lower credit scores than other racial/ethnic groups, communities of color may be less likely to qualify for mortgages as underwriting standards increase. Many in the Black and Latino community may lack information about the home buying process and choose to stay renters. Discrimination during the home buying process also influences whether people of color buy a house. Researchers have found that during the search process, people of color were shown fewer houses and provided less information than whites.

Notes about the data

The multi-year figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined five years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. However, because the information came from a survey, the samples responding to the survey were not always large enough to produce reliable results, especially in small geographic areas. CGR has noted on data tables the estimates with relatively large margins of error. Estimates with three asterisks have the largest margins, plus or minus 50% or more of the estimate. Two asterisks mean plus or minus 35%-50%, and one asterisk means plus or minus 20%-35%. For all estimates, the confidence level is 90%, meaning there is 90% probability the true value (if the whole population were surveyed) would be within the margin of error (or confidence interval). The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census.