Homeownership Plans Among Hispanic Renters: Ethnic or Geographic Differences?

AbstractFrom 2000–2005, growth in Hispanic homeownership in the United States outpaced other racial and ethnic groups. This corresponds with data from the Survey of Consumer Finances indicating that Hispanic renters experienced a dramatic upsurge in saving for homeownership—relative to renters of other racial and ethnic backgrounds—during the 1998,2001, and 2004 surveys. This relatively higher propensity to save for homeownership largely disappeared in the 2007 survey. Correspondingly, in the second half of the decade Hispanic homeownership fellfaster than did non-Hispanic homeownership. The “bubble” in Hispanic renter homeownership plans corresponded with relative housing price appreciation trends in states with large Hispanic populations such as California and Florida. This suggests that the move to saving for homeownership among Hispanic households may have been primarily a regional economic trend, rather than an ethnic one.