Reaching Out to Hispanic Homebuyers

Hispanic homeownership has not yet bounced back from the Great Recession, according to new data. Using data from Zillow and the July 2019 Census data, eMarketer found that U.S. Hispanic homeownership rate has yet to regain the 50.1% peak it reached in 2007.

“Hispanics consistently indicate aspirational goals toward homeownership,” said David Acosta, 2019 president of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP). “At a median age of 29, Hispanics are younger than the overall median US age and are [coming] into their prime home-buying years. With time, opportunity and information, more Hispanics will seek out homeownership as a key opportunity for improving their overall quality of life.”

According to Acosta, multigenerational households influences Hispanics approach to homeownership.

“Hispanics are more likely than non-Hispanics to live in multigenerational households or to otherwise experience homeownership as part of an extended family,” Acosta said. “Culturally, this factor means that saving for a down payment can be a family affair, which means multiple adults in a household contribute to the household expenses.”

Hispanics are largely a suburban group, and 59% of Hispanics in large metro areas living in suburbs. A September 2018 report on the New Geography website said just 17.4% of Hispanics lived in the “urban core.” Hispanic net worth still remains below the national average, in part due to historically inherited wealth.

“Intergenerational wealth transfer plays a large part in increasing household wealth, and while Hispanics have less inherited wealth overall than non-Hispanic white households, this too is changing,” Acosta said, adding that “the appetite and enthusiasm for homeownership remains strong.”

“Marketing engagement of companies targeting Hispanic home buyers continues to be an area of opportunity ... because the content tends to lack cultural context,” Acosta said. “Marketers often mistake Spanish language proficiency for preference—spending resources on a Spanish-language strategy instead of on a market-specific, segmented Hispanic engagement strategy. Companies that address consumers in-culture, as opposed to defaulting to in-language, will win with Hispanic home buyers.”