One issue that Sowell has focused on—the steep decline in marriage and family formation among blacks—seems especially relevant to the latest homeownership data. Though marriage rates have slowly declined in America, marriage as a factor in homeownership remains enormously significant. Among married couples, the overall homeownership rate is consistently around 80 percent. Married households are more likely to have two wage earners and consequently find it easier in general to get credit. Married couples are also more likely to follow what City Journal’s Kay Hymowitz describes as a life “script,” which includes an expectation that homeownership will follow marriage. That’s partially why homeownership among married couples is strong across all races, including African-Americans. For blacks, the married homeownership rate has hovered recently around 64 percent, not so far from the rates for other groups.

The problem, however, is that married adults are fewer and fewer in number. And while the overall rate of nuptials is falling, it has dropped faster and is significantly lower for blacks. Today, fewer than one-third of black adults have spouses, compared with about 55 percent of the general population. Asian-Americans, by contrast, top the category, with 61 percent of adults married. That vast difference alone, given the markedly higher rates of ownership among married couples, accounts for a significant part of the overall racial gap in homeownership.