Differences in household income and other socioeconomic factors have been more important than subprime lending in explaining the growing gap in homeownership between blacks and whites

The consequences of the post 2006 housing bust disproportionately affected black households; rates of black homeownership are now 26 percentage points lower compared to whites. In new research, Kiat Ying Seah, Eric Fesselmeyer, and Kien T. Le examine some of the causes of this homeownership gap by focusing on socio-economic factors. They find that rather than being due to discrimination and subprime lending, the gap is mostly explained by changes in household income, whether the household earned dividend, interest, or rental income, and by marital status.