Growing Demographic In San Diego Real Estate

(The real estate "boom" from around 2000 to 2005 saw many people buying up homes like it was candy.)

The largest and fastest growing home owner demographic is Latino.

But the percentage of Latino home owners is not just growing; it is leaping at a record pace.

Lori Weisberg and Janine Zuniga collaborated to write the article, "Homeownership rates have jumped 55% since 2000," posted in the October 3, 2006 edition of The San Diego Union-Tribune, which describes how even though Latino home ownership is becoming more prevalent, they are paying a hefty price for it.

"Latino households in San Diego County joined the ranks of homeowners in huge numbers during the first half of the decade, even as housing values rocketed by nearly 130 percent, new census data show."

Even though home ownership has drastically increased for all demographics since the start of this decade, the ownership rate for Latinos catapulted six percentage points between 2000 and 2005, exceeding gains made by the county's overall population.

"According to survey statistics released today by the Census Bureau, 45 percent of Latino households owned their homes last year - compared with 58 percent for all county residents - up from 55 percent in 2000."

Latinos have made great progress in home ownership rates, increasing from 39 percent for most of the 1990s.

It is remarkable that homeownership has continued to grow especially considering that the affordability of home is very low.

Traditionally, a home's affordability has been considered very low when the monthly costs consume more than 30 to 35 percent of their income.

"Last year, nearly one in five owner-occupied households, or 19 percent, spent at least half of their income on monthly housing costs, which include utilities, property taxes and insurance, the census data show. That compares with 13 percent in 2000. For households with a mortgage, the median monthly housing cost last year was $2,059."

However, many real estate and mortgage industry executives have been expecting this growth in Latino home ownership.

"'The desire of Latinos to own homes has been there for many years, but the real estate industry is now recognizing that the large majority of buyers is going to come from the Latino market,' said Gary Acosta, co-founder of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, which got its start in San Diego."

Even though home prices throughout the U.S. and especially in San Diego have escalated, the price increases may actually be a reason for the increase in Latino home ownership because of the fear that prices may continue to rise. Although prices have slightly dipped in the past couple of months, there is no concrete evidence constituting that prices will fall much more or for much longer.

"'It happens because of the investment incentive,' said Myers, professor of urban planning and demography at the University of Southern California. 'People are scrambling to get on the boat before it leaves the dock. If prices are going down, they don't buy.'"

If that's the case, expect homeownership to continue to rise, as home prices are making a mockery of mid-1990s prices. Latino ownership will grow even more if inflation ever starts to catch up to the market.

Back to Articles