The housing industry is eagerly courting a group of consumers, aged 20 to 36, that real estate professionals call Hispennials, which is a mash-up of Hispanics and Millennials. Rick Arvielo, CEO of Tustin-based New American Funding, states,
If you look at the Latino population, their demographic is younger and they are just starting to buy homes. Millennials and Hispennials are the biggest waves in home buying.
Only 45 percent of Latinos in the U.S. own homes, which is 20 percentage points lower than the home ownership rate of non-Hispanic whites. However, according to the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, Latinos accounted for 75 percent of the net growth in overall home ownership last year, with their numbers growing by 209,000 to a total of 7.3 million. A study by the Housing Policy Finance Center of the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C. based think tank, even made the prediction that Latino families will comprise 56 percent of all new homeowners by 2030. However, the Urban Institute warns that Latinos must gain more access to credit in order for the overall housing market to remain prosperous. We will have to wait and see if the Urban Institute’s prediction comes true and Hispennials become the future of home buying.
