Many Black Millennial city dwellers fled the density of the concrete jungles and high cost of rent for greener grass pastures and lower mortgage payments.
With the pandemic shutting society down and the opportunity to save money, many people took advantage of the market and low interest rates and purchased homes a few miles out from the cities, including a high number of Black Americans.
According to The National Association of Realtors, 5% of the new home purchases in the first three quarters in 2020 were by Black Americans. That was in an improvement from the year before, when just 3% of new home owners were black.
Realtors believe the trend will continue throughout 2021 due to the low interest rate, pandemic and “a new cultural emphasis on wealth-building”. While wealth-building is not a new concept to the black community, many millennials have acquired successful good paying careers making them appealing and acceptable applicants for banks.
Sales of homes are up almost 30% in some cities, including Atlanta were the majority of purchasers are black and making over $80,000 a year. But with the new surge, economist and realtors want to caution that the trend in home ownership by Black Millennials does not represent the bulk of Black Americans. Before this year, economist were concerned Black Millennials wouldn’t be able to acquire homes given their disproportionate rates of student loan debt and other systemic inequities, according to the Urban Institute.
