Hispanics Account For More Than Half of All New Homeowners

A new report in HousingWire shows that Hispanics make up more than half of all new homeowners in the US, after they snapped up 53% of the 545,000 new households which were formed over the third quarter.

Other ethnicities accounted for just 47% of all new households formed, something which is seen as evidence of the growing economic clout within America's Hispanic communities.

Hispanic ethnicity households are growing at a much faster rate than that of other ethnicities too - rising from 6.21 million to 6.49 million from the end of the second quarter to the end ofthe third quarter, shows the latest US Census data.

Perhaps the biggest sign of encouragement for Hispanics though is that their purchasing power has doubled over the last ten years, according to Carmen Mercado, president of the National Association of Hispanic Realtors.

This growth has led to a much more optimistic outlook for the future among Hispanics, with 61% of people from this community expecting to be better off financially in 12 months time, compared tojust 41% of other Americans.

Mercado said that Hispanics were now in a strong position elping local economies across the country, thanks to their increasing purchasing power. He added that he believed Hispanics would have a big role to play in any future real estate recovery, something underlined by a recent Fannie Mae survey, which showed that 57%  of Hispanics saw home ownership as one of the most important success symbols, compared to just 33% in other communities.