Why homeownership rates among Hispanics, African Americans differ substantially
While Hispanic homeownership is booming, black homeownership is at its lowest rate on record, according to census data. The National Association of Home Builders CEO Jerry Howard joined FOX Business on Tuesday to discuss how Hispanic buyers are moving the market.
“It’s really interesting,” he told Stuart Varney. “Hispanics really only make up about 18 percent of the total population, yet they’re 63 percent of all the new homebuyers since the recession ended in the last 10 years -- it’s amazing.”
Howard said Hispanic ownership is up because they have more money, they are more educated and they are using cash to pay for homes.
“And what we are doing -- we’ve been studying it a little bit and what we think we see is, like a lot of caucasian America, Hispanic income has risen significantly since the recession. Also, we see an increase in education levels among Hispanics. And thirdly, for some of the newly arriving Hispanics, they are used to paying cash for big purchases -- that helps them avoid the complexities of the mortgage system,” he explained.
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And while “Hispanics seem to be reaping the benefits of the economy,” Howard said, “African American homeownership and housing, in general, seems to be still repressed.”
“They are not seeing the same increases in either education or income. Moreover, those African Americans who are homeowners are among the only ones who are not seeing an increase or as high an increase in their house values,” he said.