Report: Only 3% of homebuyers were Black in 2022

It has never been easy for young adults to buy their first home. But in a chaotic year that saw home prices and mortgage rates soar, rents also surged, making it difficult for first-time homebuyers to save for a down payment. And it was especially challenging for prospective Black homebuyers.

In 2022, the percentage of first-time homebuyers hit an all-time low while the average age of a first-time homebuyer rose to 36 from 33, according to the National Association of Realtors. And in a year that saw home sales fall nationally and on Long Island in part because many potential homebuyers were priced out of the market, Black people were impacted the most, according to the Realtors’ 2022 “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers” report. The report noted that last year, 88% of homebuyers were white, up from 82% the year before. Only 3% of homebuyers were Black, down from 8% in 2021.

Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist and vice president of research for the National Association of Realtors, noted that Black people are “paying a disproportionate amount to rental costs.” She said that “as these rents rise, it is further holding back Black buyers, who are also more likely than others to be first-time buyers.”

Overall, the homeownership rate at the end of 2022 was 44.9% for Blacks and 74.5% for whites, a gap of 29.6%, according to Census Bureau data. That gap has held mostly steady for 60 years.