Kayla Kimber had a clear goal: Own a home by the time she was 35 years old – partner or no partner.

Two years ago, it was looking tough. In 2023, she was 32, still single and living in her studio apartment with rising rent. She had a car payment to manage, and her savings weren’t where they needed to be. Undaunted, Kimber focused on boosting her income with a full-time and part-time job and earnestly tackled her debt. One year later, she bought her dream house, one that checked every box.

“I feel very proud to have a home,” says the program manager at Road to Hire, a nonprofit that supports young adults from underrepresented communities (and, like Bankrate, a subsidiary of Red Ventures). “This was a milestone that I always thought I would have to have a partner for. It was a significant achievement for me to have done it on my own. If I can do this on my own, then I’m unstoppable.”

Despite high home prices, stubborn mortgage rates and a racial wealth and homeownership gap that remains painfully wide, Black women are proving they are indeed unstoppable. They are not just buying homes, they’re rewriting the rules of homeownership. According to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), Black women make up the largest share of single female homebuyers, more than in any other racial or ethnic group. This isn’t a sudden spike; it’s been growing every year since 2020.

Black women breaking ground

It’s easy to forget—or maybe hard to believe—that not too long ago, if you were a woman (of any race), you often couldn’t get a mortgage, open a bank account or take out other loans without a male co-signer. It wasn’t until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 that it became illegal to deny credit to someone because of their sex or marital status.

Black women have certainly come a very long way since then. In recent decades, Black women have steadily increased their rate of homeownership, even as rates for Black men have declined, according to the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB). That momentum continued through, and after, the COVID pandemic slowed growth.

“In terms of mortgage applications, there are more that come from Black females than any other part of our population, more than Black males and more than Black couples,” says Courtney Rose Johnson, the outgoing president of NAREB.

And today, single Black women are among the fastest-growing groups of all homebuyers, notching a 33% share in 2024, up from 29% the previous year, NAR’s data shows.

“Single Black women are outpacing all women in the housing market,” says Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist and vice president of research at NAR. “Regardless of race, single Black women are achieving homeownership at even higher rates than what we see for white, Hispanic and Asian women.”

Admittedly, not all single female homeowners are necessarily homebuyers: Some may have inherited property from a spouse or parents, or received it in a divorce settlement. NAR’s data does not distinguish whether single women homeowners have never married or are separated, divorced or widowed. Still, the overall trend of female homeownership is on the rise. In fact, single-female-headed households, which include widowed, separated, or divorced women, had a homeownership rate of more than 53% in 2021, according to financial services firm First American Financial Corporation. That’s up from a low of 50% in 2016.

What’s behind the rise of single Black female homeownership?

A number of key factors are driving the growth in single Black women homeownership, a shift that’s driven by a combination of social, economic, and personal factors.

Shouldering responsibility

Historically, Black women have often taken on the role of the family matriarch, balancing caregiving responsibilities while also striving for financial security.

“She’s not always a single mom, but she is more likely to be a single mom than we see for single men [being dads],” says Lautz. “She is more likely to have an elderly parent within that multi-generational household. Perhaps homeownership allows her that financial stability and the ability to earn housing equity at the same time.”

And she’s not waiting for a partner to do it with. Nearly half of Black women aged 15 and older have never been married. From 1970 to 2020, the percentage of unmarried Black women was more than double that of both the overall population and Black men, according to the Census Bureau. This means more women are making major financial decisions, like buying a home, on their own.

“Our data shows that the average Black woman’s median age when they purchase real estate is age 44, and they enter the job market at 24,” says Johnson. “What’s happening for 20 years that’s keeping them from buying a house? They’re waiting for things to steady out.” For many women, that steadying means focusing on building their education, career, and financial stability first, so they can enter a marriage on solid ground.

Working more, at school and on the job

“It’s extraordinary that [Black] women are doing this because they’re doing so on the lowest household income of anyone who’s in the homebuying market,” says Lautz. “They don’t have a dual income, and they’re earning less traditionally than single men.”

But they’re working on it. While the long-standing wage gap is real, Black women continue to outpace their Black male counterparts in education, earning bachelor’s, master’s and other degrees at higher rates, according to the American Association of University Women. As Black women become more educated, that often translates into better-paying jobs and extra disposable income.

And if it doesn’t, they’re ready to make up the difference with sweat equity. Kimber, who holds a master’s degree, juggled both part-time and full-time jobs to build up her savings before buying her home, a habit she continues today (though what was once a seven-day workweek has now eased to six.)

“If you are in a position where it’s just you, it’s okay to have to go out and pick up a side hustle so you can be comfortable and have breathing room,” says Kimber. “Because when you get in your house, you want to be able to have a house that you enjoy. You want to be able to make it your own, and you don’t want to exhaust your salary trying to do so.”

Capitalizing on financial assistance

Financial aid can be a true game-changer when purchasing a home, especially for Black women.

Take Kimber—not only did her parents help by buying her out of her lease, but the home seller also covered her closing costs. Then there’s Fantasha Lawrence, assistant marketing manager on Red Ventures’ All Connect Team, which helps customers compare various home services like internet and utilities. After three years of watching her rent climb higher, she took the leap and purchased a home in 2023 – at the age of 25.

Even with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt, Lawrence made homeownership happen with the help of two first-time homebuyer grants from Bank of America that her loan officer helped her secure. One covered her down payment, while the other took care of her closing costs. Both “saved me a lot of money that I would have had to pay before even getting a home,” she recalls. “I’m very grateful I didn’t have to dip into any savings.”

Utilizing a network

First-time homebuyers often need not only financial support, but educational and emotional as well. Black women aren’t shy about reaching out for advice and expertise.

Kimber boasts of “the village” that helped her buy her home. She leaned on a friend who had just bought a home of her own. Her parents, both homeowners, offered advice. Lawrence consulted family members and put a lot of thought into choosing a Realtor and a loan officer.

Aesha Montgomery, human resources business partner at Sage Home Loans (which, like Bankrate, is owned by Red Ventures) also leveraged her network when she bought her home in 2025. The 46-year-old, twice-divorced mother of four (with three adult children who live independently) was seeking stability for her 3-year-old great-nephew, whom she had recently adopted. Friends guided her on how to improve her credit and pay down debt before applying for a mortgage. She also credits her employer for not steering her into a Sage loan, but into choosing a lender with the best deal for her situation. “I thought [that] was incredible,” she says. “I also love that they put me in touch with a Realtor. She was fantastic. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.”

Challenges to Black women homeownership

We can’t talk about Blacks buying homes without discussing the elephant (or elephants) in the room: Black Americans’ homeownership rates are consistently below those of any other ethnic group – most significantly compared to whites (nearly 45% vs. 72% of households). This gap has persisted for decades. But Black women face the double whammy of race and gender in their efforts to become homeowners.

Financial hurdles

•Student loan burdens: Black women bear more student loan debt than any other group, in part because of racism, lower wages and rising college costs.

•High rental costs: Black and Hispanic female renters are more likely to be cost-burdened, compared to all other racial groups and genders.

•Wealth gap: Black households have 10 times less wealth than white households.

Lending/credit barriers

•Mortgage discrimination: Black applicants are more likely to be denied a mortgage or a home equity loan, even when they have the same credit score or income as white applicants.

•Gender-based lending disparities: Women often are offered higher mortgage rates than men, as pay inequality leads to lower debt-to-income ratios and credit scores.

•Credit access challenges: The Black community tends to have lower credit scores and is more likely to be “credit invisible,” compared to whites and Asians.

On top of that, add affordability challenges impacting all homeowners, and these all play a role in keeping

The future of Black female homeownership

Despite those challenges, single Black women are carving out space, taking ownership (literally) and shifting the narrative around who gets to own a home in America. “Homeownership among Black women will continue to rise as they learn the benefits of owning a home,” says Lautz.

And the impact goes beyond individual success. It is also generational. “As we get more Black women into homes to understand homeownership and the power of real estate, it’s going to be a definite positive for the overall Black community and overall Black wealth,” adds Rose.

“Growing up, we never ever, as African-Americans, thought about the long term,” admits Montgomery. But “now I’m absolutely thinking about the long term.” A home is an asset, not just for today but for her kids’ future: “I have something for them if something were to happen to me.”

How to keep the momentum going

If we want this trend to continue, it’s about making sure systems are in place to help all homebuyers thrive in the future. That means expanding access to down payment assistance programs and financial literacy resources. Fair lending practices need to be implemented to eliminate the roadblocks too many still face. It also means providing community support, so that homeownership feels less like a solo journey and more like a shared victory.

Two years into homeownership, at only 27 years old, Lawrence is living proof of what is possible. She’s building equity, enjoying stability, and looking ahead to a future in which she marries and passes on her housing wealth to her children. “It blows my mind to see Black women going after the things they aspire to,” she says with a smile. “Always go after what you want in life. The sky is the limit.”

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