Affordable homeownership is a key building block of a more inclusive and equitable New York that cuts across socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic boundaries. Working- and middle-class communities depend on homeownership as an engine for economic mobility — and with vast economic inequality in New York City, preserving affordable homeownership is more important than ever.
Our latest report, “Aftermath: Affordable Homeownership In New York 10 Years After The Crisis,” finds that homeownership for middle- and working-class New Yorkers is more precarious than ever.
Some key findings:
- As of 2017, New York homeowners tend to be wealthier, older, and whiter than most New Yorkers
- There are hundreds of thousands of working- and middle-class families that own homes in New York, and over a third of all homeowners struggle to afford their monthly housing costs.
- Investor home purchases (most with all cash offers) have doubled since the foreclosure crisis, beating New York families to affordable homes — investor purchases are up in all boroughs and in 2017, 62% of affordable single family home purchases in New York City were to investors
- Young and millennial home buyers are shut out of the housing market due to skyrocketing prices, stagnant wages, investor competition, and tight lending conditions
- Three-quarters of NYC’s senior homeowners are low- and moderate-income and will need assistance in obtaining financing for home repairs and accessibility retrofits
- 400,000 New Yorkers now live in FEMA’s proposed high-risk flood zone, making it increasingly expensive for families to protect and maintain their homes