The footprint of the Latino homebuyer is about to put a significant dent in the housing market as the most dominant group currently buying homes.According to Ofelia Mendoza Torres, a local RE/MAX …
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The footprint of the Latino homebuyer is about to put a significant dent in the housing market as the most dominant group currently buying homes.
According to Ofelia Mendoza Torres, a local RE/MAX Fine Properties agent, Latinos are seeking help to find single-family homes to buy in the local market. She said about 70% of her clientele are Latinos — which matches up with a new report by the Urban Institute that forecasts by 2040, 70% of new U.S. homeowners will be Hispanic.
“There is Latino homebuyers in Arizona,” Mendoza Torres said. “It’s not only happening in Arizona. It’s where the Hispanic population has grown rapidly.”
Mendoza Torres said most are first-time homebuyers looking for homes where multiple generations may live under one roof. She said a home loan can have as many as two co-signers in order to qualify.
The Urban Institute study said young households will be the driving force behind homeowner growth among the Latino population.
The share of Latino households will “explode” because the younger population will age into their “prime years of the household formation,” according to the study.
“In 1990, just 7.3% of young households (headed by someone younger than 65) were Hispanic. By 2020, that had more than doubled to 16.4%. We project that this share will continue to increase in the next two decades, and that by 2040, more than 20% of young households will be Hispanic — triple the share in 1990,” the study said.
Arizona’s Latino population is booming. According to the 2020 Census, 31.7% of the state is of Hispanic or Latino origin, a number that nearly mirrors Maricopa County.
And Latinos buying homes is not a new trend. For the past decade, Arizona has been one of the top 5 states with Latino homebuyers with more than 82,000 in the past 10 years, according to information from the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals and the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s annual Datos report.
But local Latino homebuyers face the same hurdles everyone has in the current market — rising sale prices with a low supply on the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service.
According to the Arizona Department of Housing, an estimated 250,000 to 270,000 new housing units of “all types” are needed statewide to meet the current demand.
In the meantime, rents in the Valley have skyrocketed to levels that could become unsustainable over the long haul.
According to Realtor.com, Phoenix recently ranked No. 10 for monthly rental increases.
According to a 2019 report on Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Market Rents, in Arizona the cost of a two-bedroom apartment is $1,097. To afford this level of rent, as well as utilities, a household would need to earn $43,892 annually, or an hourly wage of $21.10 — more than $9 above the state’s current minimum wage.
But Mendoza Torres said some Latinos face additional hurdles such as low credit scores, lack of funds for closing costs and a down payment for a home.
Those people who aren’t yet U.S. citizens need to be categorized under the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act, a law that allows immigrants to purchase property, Mendoza Torres said.
“They have to put 20% to 25% as a down payment (under that law),” she said.
Still, challenges are present for all homebuyers in the current real estate market.
“It’s really hard,” Mendoza Torres said. “That’s why (people looking to buy a home) keep on renting or living with family.”
The RE/MAX Fine Properties agent said she thinks Latinos will continue to enter the housing market despite interest rates going up and the current scarcity of supply of homes in and around the Valley.
She said Latinos will continue to look to buy since rents continue to climb.
“The numbers are just growing,” Mendoza Torres said.
Brent Ruffner Lead News Reporter | Daily Independent @AzNewsmedia
Journalism has fascinated Brent Ruffner since junior high school.
Since 2001, his stories have been published in newspapers from the Albuquerque to the Arizona and he has always had a knack for making sure his facts are right and his words are to the point.
Growing up, Brent watched as sports reporters covered his beloved Phoenix Suns, a team he followed since Charles Barkley first arrived in Phoenix via trade in 1992. Sports reporting was a dream back then.
But after gaining some writing experience, Brent found a love for news instead of covering different types of sports. In 2008, he moved to New Mexico and covered crime, schools and city beats all while holding elected officials accountable.
He covered stories that ranged from a DEA drug bust gone bad to an award-winning story on school lunches.
In Arizona, Brent was a freelance writer who covered everything from the importance of citrus in the state to Esteban owning a store in downtown Prescott.
Brent is a 2007 graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
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