The California homeownership rate for Hispanics was 41.9 percent in 2013 versus 62.7 percent for non-Hispanic whites, according to U. S. Census records. The Hispanic rate in 2006 was 47.9 percent. A 2013 study by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, noting homeownership continues to be a significant source of wealth, says owning a home can increase wealth by as much as $10,000 each year a home is owned, while renters do not experience wealth gains. The Hispanic share of the market for mortgages to buy homes dropped from 24 percent in 2012 to 22 percent in 2013 in California, as they drop out of the housing market while their share of the population has grown to 39 percent, according to nationalmortgagenews.com.

Noting California Hispancis had an unemployment rate of 9.2 percent in August, Taz George, an Urban Institute researcher, says, “If they’re struggling to qualify for loans or to afford home purchases, that has huge implications for their ability to accrue wealth over time.” In addition, the affordability squeeze is being exacerbated by the 8.9 percent rise in the median price of single-family homes in California in August, year over year, to $480,280, according to the California Association of Realtors. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) says the average median priced home in August in the U. S. was $219,800. As MHProNews reported May 8, 2014, manufactured home sales are rising in California, but the shift is away from first-time buyers and more to second-home buyers and people looking to downsize. ##

(Image credit: fotosearch.com–homeownership fades for Hispanics in California))