Black homeownership in Twin Cities fell to 29% in latest survey, widest gap among comparable metros

The Black homeownership rate in the Twin Cities dropped to 29% in 2024, and the region had the largest gap between Black and White homeownership rates of any comparable metro area in the country, a Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis analysis found.

The regional target — recommended by a housing affordability task force convened in 2019 by the Itasca Project, an employer-led civic alliance — calls for matching the 2020 national Black homeownership rate of 45% by 2030.

The Federal Reserve Bank analysis found that the Minneapolis-St. Paul area indicated by far the largest gap between Black and White homeownership rates, at 46.9%. The next least-equal metro area, Pittsburgh, showed a disparity rate of 33.3%.

"The region's low Black homeownership rate isn't tied to any particular characteristic of its Black population," the report's authors wrote. "Black Minnesotans are younger, have lower incomes, and are more likely to be foreign-born than White Minnesotans, but a detailed analysis we conducted several years ago found that these differences didn't fully explain the homeownership gap at the state level."

Furthermore, the analysis found that the Twin Cities metro area missed all three of its annual housing production and homeownership goals for the first time since the targets were established.

Housing production in the region fell short by close to 6,000 units in 2025, continuing a decline also seen in 2022 and 2023. The regional goal calls for 18,000 new housing units per year.

Affordable housing production also fell well below target. After reaching a high of 3,876 units in 2022, affordable unit production dropped to 1,760 in 2024 — the most recent data available — against a goal of 2,090 new affordable units per year.

And the situation on the ground for rental vacancies isn't helping matters.

"The Minneapolis-St. Paul MSA's rental vacancy rate at 5.4 percent is the third-lowest among its peers. The fewer vacant units available, the more likely prices are to rise," the report's authors concluded.

Minnesota Realtors said in a statement to WCCO that "affordability remains the central challenge."

"Elevated mortgage rates and rising everyday costs — from insurance to utilities — are making it harder for households, especially first‑time buyers, to make the homeownership math work. That's why expanding supply at attainable price points is critical, and why Minnesota Realtors has supported efforts to help close the racial homeownership gap, including backing the 'First-Generation Homebuyers Community Downpayment Assistance Program' at the legislature over the past several years. With ongoing cost pressures and labor market uncertainty, buyers are more cautious about taking on long‑term commitments," Wendy Uzelac, president of Minnesota Realtors, said.

WCCO also reached out to Minneapolis Area Realtors, who shared the following statement:

"The challenges reflected in the report are real, particularly around affordability and housing production, but the broader context matters. Affordable housing production is closely tied to public-sector financing, approvals, and subsidy timelines, all of which have faced significant pressures and delays in recent years. As the report shows, the Twin Cities' relative affordability position has remained fairly consistent compared with our peer regions nationwide.

"It is also important that conversations about Black homeownership move beyond deficit-based framing alone. The disparities are real and deserve attention, but so do the structural, economic, and demographic factors influencing those outcomes. Addressing housing affordability and expanding sustainable homeownership opportunities will require coordinated public, private, and community-based solutions across the region."