Building on previous reports that stated Hispanics are more likely than any other group to consider homeownership a key aspect of the American Dream, it makes sense that the Hispanic homeownership rate and the number of owned Hispanic households has increased for the first time since 2009. This comes at a time where overall homeownership rates in the U.S. decreased for the 12th time, HousingWire reports.
In 2015, the Hispanic homeownership rate averaged 45.6 percent in 2015, which was 0.2 percent higher than the 2014 number. What that number does not show, however, is the 2.2 percent increase over a 12-month period ending in December 2015. In one year, the homeownership rate among Hispanics grew from 44.5 percent to 46.7 percent, which marked the largest one-year increase in over a decade.
Since 2000, Hispanics have accounted for 52 percent of the growth in U.S. homeownership, according to the State of Hispanic Homeownership Report. In the past 15 years, the number of Hispanic homeowners rose from 4.2 million to more than 7 million. Comparatively, there are 85,000 fewer non-Hispanic White homeowners now than in 2000.
What all of this points to is that the Latino community is ready to own. As Hispanic’s share of the overall population continues to grow, their influence in driving overall housing demand in the U.S. will continue to grow.
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