New data reveals a widening chasm in the American housing market: In 2025, homeownership rates for young Black adults declined, even as their white counterparts saw increases.
According to a Redfin analysis released Tuesday, just 14.2% of Black Gen Zers owned their homes nationwide, compared to 31.6% of white Gen Zers. A similar disparity exists for millennials, with only 32% of Black millennials owning a home versus 66.6% of white millennials.
The Redfin report attributes the widening gap to systemic disparities in wealth, wages and employment, exacerbated by recent economic malaise that disproportionally impacted Black workers.
The report defined millennials to be those who were between the ages of 29 and 44 in 2025. It considered only adult Gen Z members between the ages of 19 and 28.
While the homeownership rate for white Gen Zers rose from 29.7% in 2023 to 31.6% today, the rate for Gen Zers who are Black dropped from 16.3% to 14.2% over the same period. Black millennials saw a similar slide, falling from roughly 33% in 2023 to 32% currently.
“Black millennials and Gen Zers are bearing the brunt of the racial homeownership gap because since they have reached homebuying age, the country has faced significant financial challenges and a major housing supply shortage,” remarked Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather in the report.
She noted that young Black Americans often start with a disadvantage in generational wealth, adding that they are coming of age at a time of economic dysfunction that “impacted Black workers more than white workers.”
Fairweather cited disparities along racial lines in unemployment data during the pandemic and the 2008 recession, with Black unemployment hitting 17% during both crises compared to just 9% and 14%, respectively, for white workers.
The report also points to other structural barriers as factors for the disparity. For example, Redfin cited a 2023 New York Times article which found that the typical Black worker earned 79 cents for every dollar earned by a white worker. And per data from the Brookings Institute, Black families have only $15 of wealth for every $100 held by white families.
Redfin also links the gulf in financial opportunities to specific historical discriminatory policies such as redlining and biased housing covenants that kept Black families from acquiring more valuable properties and building wealth. The company also cited more recent data, including the finding that Black homebuyers are still twice as likely to have their mortgage applications rejected compared to white applicants.
As a remedy, Redfin advocates for programs such as downpayment assistance, easier access to credit, first-time buyer incentives and other affordable housing policies.
