Black Millennials Greatly Reduce Debt Yet Struggle With Home Affordability: 5 Tips To Help Trim the Cost Burden

Some 34% of Black millennials had at least $10,000 in non-mortgage debt this year, representing a  significant drop from 60% in 2022, fresh data reveal. The finding raises the question of whether those millennials erased their debt. It’s possible, but real estate expert Jamie Seale explained it’s more likely that as inflation pushed home prices and interest rates higher, millennials with large amounts of debt dropped out of the home search and postponed their purchase. Contrarily, 46% of all millennials had a minimum of $10,000 in debt in 2023, down from about 71% last year. So, Seale shared with BLACK ENTERPRISE, more non-Black millennials will continue their home search while prices and interest rates are high. She is the author of the Millennial Home Buyer Report: 2023 Edition. Individuals quizzed in the report were asked about their homebuying plans this year. The findings are a big deal because Black millennials (30%) are more concerned than their non-Black peers (29%) about qualifying for a mortgage. She disclosed Black millennials tend to have lower credit scores than their white counterparts and are 2.5 times more likely to be rejected for mortgage loans. “It’s important for Black millennials to get mortgages to help...