Working Paper #819
Endowments and Minority Homeownership
Arthur Acolin · Desen Lin · Susan M. Wachter
Ethnic Factors Housing & Residential
Fifty years after the adoption of the 1968 Fair Housing Act that prohibits discrimination in the
housing market, homeownership rates have not increased for Black or Hispanic households. The
current homeownership rate for Black households is 42 percent, identical to the 1970 census
reported level, and 48 percent for Hispanic households, lower than that in 1970. Using data from
the 1989, 2005, and 2013 American Housing Surveys, we identify the extent to which group
differences in household endowments account for persistently low minority homeownership levels.