The wave of Hispanic homebuyers that was promised just before the market crashed is finally ready to storm the market, according to a new report from a group of real estate professionals dedicated to increasing ownership among Latinos.
Hispanics filled 60% of the 2.3 million jobs added to the economy in 2011 and accounted for 53% of all home sales in last year's third quarter. And Hispanic real estate leaders say those are just short-term indicators of what's to come.
“We believe the tide is shifting,” says Mary Mancera, a spokesperson for the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, noting that the housing sector could use the “consumer gusto” that Latinos offer.
With 20,000 members, the San Diego-based NAHREP is said to be the country's largest minority trade organization.
“Despite recent losses suffered by Hispanics during the housing crisis, young Latino families that were unaffected by foreclosure or lost home value are ready to enter the market,” says NAHREP chair Carmen Mercado. “When they do, they will have an exponential impact on housing sales.”
Several national surveys indicate that the Hispanic population, particularly renters, aspire to homeownership despite the malaise in the general economy.
And now, according to the “State of Hispanic Homeownership Report,” demographic forces are such that Latinos are ready to start to buy en masse and total owner-occupant housing units purchased will replace ownership rate as the key metric among that minority group.
“In recent years, the headlines have focused on foreclosure and wealth losses in the Hispanic community,” says Mercado, a Long Island, N.Y.-based education and diversity manager with Coldwell Banker.
“But the untold story is the growth, labor force participation, higher educational achievements and attitudes toward homeownership that are crystallizing into a trend with Latinos taking center stage as a mega-force in housing.”
The 36-page report, which was written by minority housing expert Alejandro Becerra, a former HUD official, points to numerous factors that, when taken together, show the depth of the Hispanic market:
• Population—Hispanics are responsible for most of the overall population growth over the past decade.
As an indication of the widening growth gap between whites and Latinos, the report notes that between 2000 and 2009, whites accounted for 1.1 births for every one death, whereas Hispanics recorded 8.9 births for each death.
• Consumerism—Between 2005 and 2008, the Hispanic market was responsible for more than half the real growth in the consumer economy. During that time, the $52 billion in new Hispanic spending outpaced the $40 billion in new spending by non-Hispanics.
• Workforce Participation—Latinos can be expected to account for nearly three-quarters of this decade's growth in the nation's labor force.
• Mobility—Hispanics are willing to follow the jobs and go wherever work is available.
According to the Census Bureau, between 2000 and 2010, Hispanics alone drove the population growth of Philadelphia, Phoenix, Indianapolis, Omaha and Atlanta. The group also comprised the greatest component of population increases in San Antonio, Fort Worth and El Paso, Texas, and Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C.
• Education—The number of young Hispanic adults enrolling in college grew by 349,000 in 2009-10, whereas the number of non-Hispanic whites fell by 320,000.
In 2010, 73% of young Hispanics completed high school, up from 60% in 2000. At the same time, 32% of young Hispanics enrolled in college, up from 22% 10 years earlier. To accommodate minority first-time buyers, the Hispanic real estate leaders say some changes need to be made in the nation's housing finance system. NAHREP is also calling for better access to affordable, safe mortgage products and low-priced bank owned properties.
