Historically, members of some racial and ethnic groups have suffered discrimination in buying homes and accessing home mortgages. A home is a vital financial asset for a family and an investment in both the local neighborhood and surrounding community.

In 2019-23, homeownership rates in Lancaster County were highest among white residents, at 74%, and Asian residents at 67%, compared to Hispanic residents at 44%, and African American residents at 39%. This racial/ethnic disparity follows a similar pattern to state and national rates, but is more pronounced in Lancaster, with ownership by African Americans and Hispanics about 5 and 7 percentage points, respectively, below national levels.

Since 2009-13, rates of homeownership declined by 8 percentage points for Asians, while rates for African Americans and Hispanics have increased by 8 and 11 points, respectively. Rates among Whites have held relatively steady.

In the City of Lancaster, homeownership levels among Hispanics (42%) is similar to the county rate while homeownership is lower among Whites (54%) compared to the county.

Lancaster's home ownership rates among Hispanic and African Americans are in the middle of comparison counties. Lancaster's Hispanic rate of homeownership is below Chester, Cumberland and York, similar to Berks, and higher than Lebanon and Dauphin. Home ownership among African Americans in Lancaster County is lower than in Berks, Chester and York counties, on par with Dauphin, and above Cumberland and Lebanon.

A variety of research has shown how disparities in homeownership are connected to racial inequities within systems beyond housing, including financial services, labor market and intergenerational wealth. Historic practices including redlining, exclusionary mortgage practices and restrictive covenants barring property from being owned by members of specific groups directly locked people out of homeownership. These had intergenerational effects when people of color were unable to benefit from wealth transfers of home equity as white homebuyers can. Since Black and Latino households generally have lower wages and wealth accumulation, they have less resources for down payments and higher debt to income ratios. With lower credit scores than other racial/ethnic groups, communities of color may be less likely to qualify for mortgages as underwriting standards increase. Many in the Black and Latino community may lack information about the home buying process and choose to stay renters. Discrimination during the home buying process also influences whether people of color buy a house. Researchers have found that during the search process, people of color were shown fewer houses and provided less information than whites.

The multiyear figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined five years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. However, because the information came from a survey, the samples responding to the survey were not always large enough to produce reliable results, especially in small geographic areas. CGR has noted on data tables the estimates with relatively large margins of error. Estimates with three asterisks have the largest margins, plus or minus 50% or more of the estimate. Two asterisks mean plus or minus 35%-50%, and one asterisk means plus or minus 20%-35%. For all estimates, the confidence level is 90%, meaning there is 90% probability the true value (if the whole population were surveyed) would be within the margin of error (or confidence interval). The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census. Data for this indicator are released annually in December.