Most can't afford to buy their own home? Gee, I thought most was a number > 50%. Must be that leftist math again. Of course Manhattan is more expensive than other locations. That's because it's desirable. No one has a "right" to be able to buy in Manhattan. Only the ability, or not.
"Home Ownership: a Bright Spot
The one area of most consistent good news is home ownership. In 2005, nearly 69% of
households owned their own homes, a significant increase over the 64% ownership rates of a
decade ago. Since 1999, the most dramatic increases came for Hispanics, whose home ownership
grew to 49.5% or by 4 percentage points in 2005. White home ownership rates increased 2.2
percentage points since 1999 and were 72.7% in 2005. Over the same time period, rates increased
by 1.9 percentage points to 48.2% for blacks. Hispanic home ownership surpassed that of blacks for the first time."
http://www.epinet.org/newsroom/releases/2006/08/SWApr-wealth-200608-final.pdf