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A new report from discount brokerage Redfin has found that Hispanic or Latinx homeowners are more likely than people of any other race or ethnicity to have received family financial help to buy their home.
The brokerage’s research team surveyed more than 1,500 respondents, 385 of whom self-identified as Hispanic, 238 who identified themselves as Black and 499 who identified themselves as white, during the first week of June.
Nearly 2 in 5 Hispanic respondents said their parents either directly helped pay their rent or mortgage, while around the same share said their parents provided other financial assistance that helped them make those payments. For Black respondents, those numbers were 20 percent and 32 percent, respectively, while 21 percent of white respondents said they received direct financial help and 25 percent said they received indirect help.
Many Hispanic respondents – 47 percent – also have at least one adult relative living with them, compared to 39 percent of Black and 27 percent of white respondents.
Redfin researchers said the figures help explain what has powered the steady rise in the Hispanic homeownership rate over the last six years. Just over 50 percent of Hispanic or Latino Americans owned their own home in 2020, up from 45 percent in 2015, according to Census Bureau data. While both the Black and white homeownership rates ticked up at the same time, to 45 percent and 75 percent, respectively, the Hispanic homeownership rate accelerated faster.
“Hispanic people in the U.S., especially those who are undocumented, tend to have less access to credit and higher debt compared to other racial or ethnic groups, making them more dependent on support from family to buy a home,” Redfin economist Sebastian Sandoval-Olascoaga said in a statement. “With those limitations, support from family and social networks – such as living with family or friends without paying rent – allows Hispanic people to save money for a down payment or monthly mortgage costs. That ability to rely on family is one of multiple reasons why the Hispanic homeownership rate is steadily rising.”
But family help wasn’t the only source survey respondents relied on. While large shares of respondents said they made sacrifices like working longer hours, making their car last as long as possible or taking an extra job, more Hispanic respondents reported making these sacrifices than respondents of other races or ethnicities. Just 10 percent of Hispanic homeowners reported making no sacrifices to buy their first home, versus 23 percent of white homeowners.
“For many Hispanic Americans, making social or personal sacrifices is a necessity if they want to buy a home,” Sandoval-Olascoaga said. “That’s especially true this year, as Hispanic people were more likely than people of other races to lose their jobs due to the pandemic. Plus, undocumented immigrants are unable to access financial help from the government and may have to rely on family, adding to the need for Hispanic families to make economic sacrifices.”
