Homes owned by Black people valued less in San Antonio
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The typical home value of San Antonio-area homes with Black owners is 10.5% less than homes with white owners, per Zillow data shared with Axios.
Why it matters: Homeownership remains the biggest driver of the wealth gap, per the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Axios' Brianna Crane reports.
By the numbers: The typical value of a San Antonio home with a white owner is $308,700.
- For a Black San Antonio homeowner, it's $276,300.
The big picture: Nationally, the typical value of U.S. homes with Black owners ($291,000) is 18% less than the typical value of homes with white owners ($354,000), per Zillow data.
- McAllen is the only metro of the 100 analyzed where the typical value of homes with Black owners is higher than that of homes with white owners.
Zoom out: The gap is larger in other major Texas cities.
- In Houston, homes owned by Black people are valued at nearly 23% less than homes owned by white people.
- In Dallas, it's a 22.5% gap.
- In Austin, it's 22%.
Between the lines: High debt-to-income ratios and poor or nonexistent credit histories are the largest reasons Black mortgage applicants are denied at a higher rate than other racial groups in the U.S., Urban Institute researcher Jung Hyun Choi tells Axios.
- Higher amounts of debt and delinquent payments are tanking credit scores and driving up that debt-to-income ratio, she explains.
- Compared to other groups, Black people are most likely to be unbanked, largely due to a lack of trust spurred by predatory lending and discriminatory banking practices.
What's happening: The appraiser workforce is mostly white, according to HUD, and it's often difficult to report appraisal discrimination — though new federal policies aim to address that pervasive problem.
What they're saying: Black owners seeing their homes appraising for less than those of their white counterparts isn't new.
- "It's no longer a myth or legend that this happens," HUD chief of staff Julienne Joseph tells Axios.