Housing News

Hispanic Homeownership Hits Record Numbers Despite Affordability Challenges

Even with affordability challenges in the housing market, the number of Hispanic homeowners hit a record high in 2024, according to a recent report from the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP).

About 238,000 more Hispanic households closed on homes in the U.S. last year. That translated into nearly 9.8 million Hispanic households owning their own homes, which is the highest that figure has ever been.

However, the group’s homeownership rate dipped by half a percentage point to 49% from 2023 to 2024, according to the report.

The report attributes the small decline in the homeownership rate to the rapid growth of new Hispanic households. There were so many new households formed last year that Hispanic buyers couldn’t keep up, despite the rise in home purchases.

The Hispanic community sees homeownership as the “cornerstone of the American dream and as an essential step to building generational wealth,” said Jaimie Smeraski, NAHREP’s Policy, Learning, and Research Director. “Children are taught from a young age to work toward homeownership, and Latinos will go to great lengths to make homeownership possible.”

(The report was based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, the Annual Social and Economic Supplement, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as interviews with top real estate agents and mortgage lenders.)

Where are Hispanic Americans moving?

Not surprisingly, states in the South and Midwest are attracting many new Hispanic buyers.

For the third year in a row, their top choice has been Texas, which has had the largest influx of Latinos for nine of the last 15 years.

Texas gained 128,900 new Hispanic residents in 2024. The Lone Star State was followed by North Carolina, at 30,000, and Georgia, at 27,700.

Meanwhile, pricier states on the coasts and Southwest lost the most Hispanic residents. California had 58,600 fewer Hispanic residents, followed by New Mexico, at 36,200, and Arizona, at 30,700.

Hispanic buyers are moving for various reasons. Roughly 35% are relocating to buy a larger home, according to the study.

About 31% wanted to move to a new neighborhood, while 29% wanted to relocate to a new town or city. About 28% moved because of a change in their finances and 26% moved to more affordable areas.

What kinds of homes are Hispanic households purchasing?

Hispanic buyers prefer single-family homes, according to the study, with 63% opting to purchase existing homes and 27% building new ones. Top considerations included fenced-in yards and pet-friendly locations.

Just 11% chose condos, townhomes, apartments, and co-ops.

How more Hispanic buyers are becoming homeowners

Like all potential home purchasers, Hispanic households are navigating a market defined by high home prices and mortgage rates.

But they face an additional challenge. Typically, they buy homes at a younger age than the general population, according to the study. It noted that in 2023, 42.8% of Hispanic borrowers were younger than 45. That’s compared with only 37.6% for non-Hispanic buyers.

These buyers are more likely to use Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans to purchase properties, likely because these loans offer lower mortgage rates and buyers can make lower down payments.

It’s also not uncommon for Hispanic buyers to pool together their resources with family members and purchase multigenerational homes. This could be parents living with their own parents as well as adult children or siblings living together.

Almost a third, 32.1%, of Hispanic households lived in a multigenerational home in 2023, according to the report.

“Latinos are willing to relocate to areas with more affordability. They are taking advantage of down payment assistance programs and utilizing incentives from builders to make buying a home more affordable,” Smeraski said. “A flexible living arrangement allows families to pool resources, including co-borrowing on a mortgage where it makes sense to do so.”