During 2017, the number of Hispanic homeowners reached 7,472,000, an increase of 167,000 homes owned since 2016, reports CityLab Latino writer Martin Echenique.15% of all homes sold in the U.S. during 2017 were bought by Hispanics.
According to the 2017 State of Hispanic Homeownership Report, a project of the Hispanic Wealth Project in association with the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, the increase largely has been driven by the purchase of new properties in areas where the Hispanic population has been growing rapidly, like Kansas, Iowa and Utah.
The authors say that today, 46.2% of Hispanic households own their properties, returning to the levels registered in 2012 but not yet reaching the highs of 2005-2007. By 2024, Hispanics are expected to add 6,000,000 new homes owned to the national total, leading the growth of homeowners and stimulating the real estate market in the U.S. The report explains that this increase will be due to the fact that some Hispanics are leaving the states that have historically hosted them, and moving to other jurisdictions like Kansas, Iowa and Utah, lured by a job market in need of a labor force with and without college degrees, and where the housing is more affordable, enabling them to become homeowners.
Although the increase of Hispanic homeowners in the U.S. is auspicious, the report indicates that there are still barriers that make it difficult for new owners to enter the market. During 2017, the report identified three major problems: the shortage of affordable housing nationwide, natural disasters in areas with a high concentration of Hispanic population such as Florida and Texas, and the uncertainty generated by President Trump's immigration policies.
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