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Despite a “hostile market” for low-income households, the rate of homeownership among Hispanics in the U.S. rose to 48.5% in 2021 compared with 47.5% two years earlier, according to a report released Tuesday.
In its annual analysis of the real estate market, the National Association of Professional Hispanic Real Estate Agents (Nahrep) indicated that Latinos have added 657,000 homes as owners since 2019.
“While the Hispanic homeownership rate continues its upward path, recent market conditions have been difficult for new buyers, especially those in need of housing with low down payment,” Gary Acosta, president of Nahrep, said in a statement.
These challenges include declining inventories to record lows, and rising prices that have left families who are first-time-buyers at a disadvantage to acquire a home. Since 2017, 20.6% of homeownership growth is attributed to Latino buyers, but this contrasts with the 78.5% increase in homeownership between 2011 and 2017, according to Nahrep’s annual report released in Washington at the end of its National Convention and Housing Policy Summit.
Among the biggest difficulties Nahrep finds for Hispanics to buy a home there is the access to credit and the need to rely on loans funded by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
One sign of optimism about Hispanic homeownership, the report noted, is that 40.8% of Latinos under 45 who do not already have a mortgage are considered “mortgage-ready”.
Nahrep highlighted the estimate that between 2020 and 2040, a period in which the number of white, non-Latino households, homeownership will decrease, Hispanics will account for 53.1% of new homeownership formation.
