Against All Odds, Hispanic Buyers Are Slowly Closing the Homeownership Gap

Roughly 657,000 Latino households purchased homes in 2021, boosting their homeownership rate to 48.4%, still 30 percentage points below white Americans, but a significant improvement in the face of COVID-related obstacles. The Hispanic community was heavily affected by layoffs at the start of the pandemic, and more general housing barriers like low inventory and record prices certainly didn’t help those in the throes of home purchases.

Hispanic Americans are expected to make up 70% of total new homeowners over the next two decades, Realtor.com reports, shrinking a decades-old homeownership gap and building generational wealth in the process.

About 657,000 Latino households purchased homes last year, helping to boost their homeownership rate to 48.4%. That’s 30 percentage points lower than white Americans; among this group, three-quarters own their homes.

“That gap is closing slowly, but it’s still a huge gap. Homeownership creates a more stable environment for families, it … is a gateway to the middle class for many families,” says Gary Acosta, CEO and co-founder of NAHREP. “Hispanic homebuyers, despite the headwinds, proved to be extremely resilient. They’re willing to try three, four, five, six different times to go after a property and then another one and another one.”

Read more