The U.S. homeownership rate remained unchanged at 66.9% in the third quarter, but the foreclosure crisis is hitting minorities harder than whites, according to new government figures released Tuesday morning.
The Census Bureau reported that the homeownership rate for blacks fell to 45% in the third quarter, down from 46.4% a year ago, while the 74.7% homeownership rate for whites is down only 0.3 percentage points from a year ago.
The homeownership rate for Hispanics fell to 47% as of September 30, down from 48.7% a year ago.
Overall, the national homeownership rate has fallen 0.7 percentage points since the third quarter of 2009, the lowest level since 1999.
Center for Responsible Lending chief executive Martin Eakes expects the homeownership rate for black and Hispanic families will drop to a range of 40% to 42%.
"The foreclosure crisis will have catastrophic human and economic effects on family wealth and neighborhood stability," he told a joint Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Federal Reserve Board conference on the foreclosure crisis on Oct 25.
It is "silently destroying low- and moderate-income communities across the nation," Eakes said.
