According to a recently released report, the Latino population in the United States is now on the spotlight of the topic of wealth development. The increasingly faster pace of home ownership is altering the real estate landscape in several residential belts all over the country, making this population a growing force in the fast-rising real estate market.

The reports organized by “The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professional” – NAHREP “analyze wealth building activities ranging from real estate acquisition, business growth, as well as savings and wealth diversification. through equity-based financial assets. Utilizing data from the 2021 Hispanic Wealth Project's second annual survey, and newly released data from the Federal Reserve's Consumer Finance Survey, the report's findings highlight that despite the seismic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Latino families, Latinos are on track to meet the Hispanic Wealth Project’s overall wealth goals by 2024. Real estate acquisition and historic levels of equity gains in recent years have protected the wealth creation of Latino families”, according to NAHREP in its 2021 report presentation.

According to the association, the Latino property ownership rate rose to 48.4% in 2021, up from 47.5% in 2019, the highest since the mid-2000s.In comparison, it is noted that the black population ownership rate reached 45.3% in 2020, up from 42.1% in 2019.

NAHREP used data from the Census Bureau to compile its annual report and shows that, between 2019 and 2021, new properties by Latino families reached a total of 657,000 in the period.

The report also highlights several places where there has been a growing increase in young Latino residents, which indicates a greater potential for new property acquisitions in the next 12 months, especially in South Texas cities.

According to the “The Washington Post” publication, real estate experts say that there was an increase in interest in acquiring among the Latino population even before the pandemic, and that the numbers show that that movement pointed to this type of growth, whose expansion is more noticeable now.

Last year, the Urban Institute research institute founds that “Hispanic households face substantial structural barriers to homeownership, including inequitable access to credit, down payments, and opportunities to build wealth”. However, the study projected that, between 2020 and 2040, 70% of new homes in the United States considering the net number of new homeowners, may be Latino.

Estimates of the increase in property acquisitions by Latinos proved correct and, “whereas Hispanics make up about 18% of the nation’s inhabitants, they accounted for greater than half of the nation’s homeownership development in the decade main”, as noted by “The Washington Post”.

As stated by Jun Zhu, visiting assistant professor in the finance division at Indiana University-Bloomington and a nonresident fellow with the “Urban Institute”, the age factor plays an important role in acquisitions, as this population is younger than different racial and ethnic groups. “This demographic is entering their early 30s now and that’s the most typical years for many first-time home buyers. So, we should expect Hispanics to continue being a strong influence on the housing market for years to come”, Professor Zhu told to newspaper.

According to “Pew Research” Latinos in the United States were, on average, 30 years old in 2019, about 15 years younger than the average age of non-Latino white Americans. 

The growing number of Latino homeowners comes amid one of the biggest increases in property rates in a long time. According to The Washington Post, “Home gross sales surged to a 15-year excessive in 2021, as low rates of interest and a protracted pandemic helped gasoline larger demand […]. Home costs additionally grew at a report tempo throughout the nation final 12 months as patrons in many markets contended with dwindling stock and a quicker tempo of gross sales. The median existing-home worth in January reached $350,000, up 15.4 % from the identical 2020 interval, in accordance with the realty group”. 

The NAHREP report concludes that “while Latino real estate purchases and entrepreneurial starts have been robust, formidable challenges threaten future wealth gains. Latinos have trailed all other demographics in retirement account participation, small business owners are not accessing capital at the rates necessary to effectively scale their businesses, inventory shortages are slowing home purchases, and Latinos were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. However, even with the setbacks, Latino household wealth is set to continue on an upward trajectory, with wealth derived from real estate acquisitions offsetting some of the losses in business equity and savings and investments. As the economy continues on an unpredictable path, the demonstrated resiliency and work ethic of the Latino community remains an invaluable asset to America’s continued prosperity”.