Hispanic Homeownership and Homebuying Trends

The 2018 State of Hispanic Ownership Report shows the number of Hispanics owning a home is on the rise, but so is how much they pay for them.

The report, which was compiled from statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau, states that 42.8% of Hispanic homebuyers are likely to have an FHA loan. In comparison, 79.4% of non-Hispanic homebuyers use conventional financing.

According to the report, Hispanics are also more likely to pay mortgage insurance premiums for the life of their FHA mortgage, which increases the monthly out-of-pocket expenses.

Hispanics are not only reportedly paying more for homes, but they are also occupying more of them, as homeownership rates increased to 47.1% in 2018 from 45.6% in 2015—a net gain of 362,000 homeowners.

Hispanics posted their largest homeownership gain in 13 years. The report states that despite concerns about housing inventory and changing government policies for homeownership, the leading indicators, such as household formation, income trends, age, and consumer sentiment, Hispanics will continue to drive homeownership gains in America for the foreseeable future.

Hispanics accounted for 62.7% of net U.S. homeownership gains over the past decade, growing from roughly 6.3 million homeowners to approximately 7.9 million. For the fourth consecutive year, Hispanics were the only ethnic demographic group to increase their homeownership.

The changing housing market correlates to the impact Hispanics are having to the population and the workforce.

The Hispanic population is 18.1 percent (58.9 million) of the overall U.S. population. By 2045, non-Hispanic Whites will shrink to 49.7% and will no longer be the majority population in the United States, according to the report. Hispanics represent 66.3% of the labor force population.

California’s 2018 Hispanic population of approximately 15.5 million was the highest in the nation. Texas’ reported Hispanic population of 11.2 million was second.