Hispanic Homeowners Are Driving the Market

Curbed reports that in many areas of the country, a growing Hispanic population is driving the home buying market.

The growth of the U.S.’s increasingly eclectic Hispanic population, one of the largest and most consequential demographic shifts taking place in the country right now, is bringing diversity to communities across the nation. According to a recent Pew Research Center report, the country’s Latino population, which reached 58 million in 2016, accounted for half the national population growth since 2000… This community has played a large role in stabilizing or growing the population in parts of the country that would otherwise see population declines. By 2020, Latinos will comprise the majority of new household formations.

That growth has also fueled a marked increase in Hispanic homeownership. According to the latest National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) State of Hispanic Homeownership Report, this group accounts for 32.4 percent of overall U.S. household formation.

But that’s just the start. Economic and population data suggests Hispanic homebuyers will become an even larger part of the real estate market in coming decades, in more parts of the country. Hispanic homeowners’ buying power is set to rise; the median income of Hispanic households grew from $46,000 to $60,000 the 10 years between 2007 and 2017, according to data collected by UnidosUS, a nonpartisan Hispanic advocacy group. A fifth of the millennial population in the country is Hispanic, suggesting many have just entered their prime homebuying years.

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