More Americans own homes today, but the gap in homeownership between Black and white people is at its widest in 10 years.
The National Association of Realtors reported that 65.5 percent of Americans owned homes in 2021 versus 64.7 percent in 2011, but just 44 percent of the latest number of homeowners are Black, compared to white Americans who made up more than 72 percent.
"Unfortunately, the incredible affordability challenges of the last year have hit minority home buyers more than white buyers," said Jessica Lautz, NAR deputy chief economist and vice president of research, in a press release.
At the same time, Black Americans who were able to purchase homes, spent more of their income on acquiring them than any other racial group, and 30 percent of them reported the cost being burdensome.
"Even among successful home buyers, Black Americans have lower household incomes, which narrows the available pool of inventory they may be able to afford and makes their journey to homeownership even more difficult in this limited housing inventory environment," Lautz added.
The report also showed that Black and Hispanic consumers faced more scrutiny from banks, with prospective Black homebuyers having the highest denial rates for both new purchases and refinancing options.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
