Tampa Bay has been facing a major housing crisis that was only made worse by the surge of the pandemic, and now we’re starting to see some of the consequences of being the “hottest market in the country.”

A report published yesterday by real estate listing giant Zillow, found that the COVID-19 pandemic has only widened the gap to homeownership for Florida’s Black community.

Zillow examined the home value index by race and found that Black-owned homes in October 2021 were worth 16.7% less than the typical U.S. home, according to data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). Last month in Tampa, the average Black-owned home was valued at $292, 801, versus a Latin-home worth $319,511, an Indigenous at $322,616, a white non-Hispanic at $336,235 and an Asian-owned at $338,013.

For comparison, in Jacksonville a Black-owned home is worth about $80,000 less than a white non-Hispanic home. These trends were also found in areas like Orlando ($45,000 less) and Miami ($86,000 less).
While overall home values are projected to increase, Black-owned houses are still valued less than others, says Zillow. Since the early 2000s, Black homeownership across the country has decreased from 49.7% in 2004 to a current 44%, says the report. The report suggests that prospective Black homebuyers see further setbacks due to limited access to traditional financial services that can help them save money to pay mortgages or down payments.

According to Zillow, Black mortgage applicants are also denied mortgages 84% more than white applicants, and credit history is listed as the main reason they get denied.

Zillow stated that “given typical Black incomes and savings rates, our research shows it could take an additional decade for Black applicants to save the same size down payments as all applicants.”

Nationally, almost 20% of Black applicants were denied a mortgage in 2020, the highest among races and 10.7% higher than white applicants.

Zillow says that Black applicants had the highest denial rates in Mississippi (31%), Louisiana (26.1%), Arkansas (26%) and South Carolina (25.8%). While Florida rates ninth in the country for mortgage denial rates, with 21.8%.

The recent finding comes as Tampa Bay is on track to be even more difficult to live in for non-homeowners. A different report from Zillow last August predicted that Tampa is currently on track to be more rent-burdened track than Los Angeles.