While diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and marketing towards the LGBTQ+ community have gained traction in real estate, unconscious bias and discrimination still remain too common. Those are among the findings of the LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance’s 2022 Discrimination And Its Impact on LGTBQ+ Community: Real Estate Professionals and Consumers report.
A Mixed Bag
In the report, 72% of LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance members reported that their local real estate industry has expanded its emphasis on DEI over the past three years. And during the past five years, 60% of alliance members noted an increase in marketing that targeted the LGBTQ+ community.
But at the same time, 20% of respondents shared that they experience high levels of unconscious bias within their local real estate industry, and 40% shared similar sentiments about their local real estate industry. Also, 17% of respondents cited examples from the past three years of industry colleagues not wanting to work with them because they are part of the LGBTQ+ community.
A Growing Community
The most recent Gallup poll showed the LGBTQ+ community has risen to 7.1% of the U.S. adult population, more than doubling since 2012. There has also been an increase in LGBTQ+ homeowners, with 64% of alliance members reporting an uptick in LGBTQ+ couples as homeowners and 42% noted a surge in LGBTQ+ singles entering homeownership.
Despite growth in the amount of LGBTQ+ homebuyers, many are still facing discrimination. Respondents cited purchase-related forms and problems with sellers as the most tangible examples of discrimination in the past three years for LGBTQ+ homebuyers. Others reported real estate professionals discriminating against a prospective homebuyer or lenders quoting higher mortgage rates and/or worse terms to prospective buyers.
Download the full report here.