Just 245,300 of the homes now listed for sale are affordable to households making between $75,000 and $100,000, according to a new analysis by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). That is a massive drop from the 656,200 homes ready to buy in 2019 before COVID-19 struck.
“The surging residential real estate market of the last two years led to record-high home prices and record-low inventory,” the NAR explained. “This simultaneous ‘double trouble’ has made it increasingly difficult for consumers, particularly Black Americans, to achieve homeownership.”
George Ratiu, Realtor.com’s manager of economic research, told Business Insider, “The Black homeownership rate currently remains the lowest in the country, underscoring how the challenging COVID housing market has compounded long-standing systemic issues faced by today’s Black buyers.”