The NAHREP panel addresses the supply, the state of Hispanic homeownership
“I didn’t expect Latinos to have the big advantage that they had, first of all, especially considering the environment – maybe the most difficult affordability problem that we’ve faced, at least in a generation that I can imagine – and the difficult situation politically and economically, too,” he said during the panel.
Jaimie Smeraski, NAHREP’s vice president of national programs and research, highlighted the impact of immigration enforcement on Hispanic consumers and retailers.
“Almost everyone we talked to really wanted to point out that, in some way, it had an impact on their clients, even if their clients were illegal,” he said. “It’s like crossing different immigration conditions and it created a lot of uncertainty – both on the demand side, and then it has an impact on the supply side.”
New buyers, shortage of inventory
Hispanic buyers are also younger than their non-Hispanic counterparts, a statistical advantage that positions them to drive housing demand for years to come, the report shows.
Smeraski noted that 8% of Hispanic home purchases went to borrowers under the age of 25, compared to 6% of non-Hispanic borrowers.
The Hispanic population as a whole has a median age of 31 years — about 10 years younger than the general population and 14 years younger than non-Hispanic whites.
Although market conditions have changed in favor of consumers in some regions, the existing supply problem remains unresolved.
New home sales fell in January, and the supply of new homes for sale rose to nearly a 10-month high — a level that usually points to a buyer’s market. But much of that inventory is priced beyond the reach of first-time buyers, panelists said.
Kara Murray-Badal, director of the real estate lab Turner Labshe said the solutions vary by region.
“The Bay Area, the Northeast — these are markets with very limited supply,” he said. “They’re too crowded. There’s also issues with zoning. It’s really hard to build in those markets. Then, you have these contagious markets that draw people to those areas. You’ve got Phoenixes, Nevadas, even Miamis that have space and potential.”
Acosta said that even though new construction is concentrated in high-end homes, it still registers as good.
“I still have the idea that any house is good,” he said. “Even if we’re building a lot of homes that are probably mid-to-luxury, you’re going to see people tend to go up and buy those properties, which tends to leave less expensive properties to sell that need to be sold to move up.”
Policy instruments, regulatory costs
The panel also discussed federal policy responses to the housing shortage such as the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.
“If we’re facing a 4 to 8 million supply problem, then having affordable housing is critical to creating, to close that gap,” Murray-Badal said. “The US government, the national government, has a real role to play in making that easier.”
According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), regulatory costs add about $94,000 to the price of each new home — a figure Acosta says “has a big impact on purchasing.”
He also called for changes in the housing sector.
“I think a lot of the underwriting methods that are used today are very outdated, especially when it comes to self-employed borrowers,” Acosta said. “Latinos are twice as likely as the rest of the population to own a small business, so that disproportionately affects our community.”
Market volatility and seller behavior
Realtor.com Senior Economist Daniele Hale said 2026 will be a critical test of housing market recovery.
“The good news is that sellers are coming to the market, I think, with more realistic expectations in 2026 than they had in 2025,” he said. “We saw a lot of cancellations in 2025 because the sellers didn’t have to sell. They were looking for high levels of equity in their house. They weren’t facing any real economic stress. So, they were listing their home, and if they found their value, they were sure to sell it. If they didn’t, many of them chose to take their listing off the market.
“I don’t know if we’re going to see that same level of uncertainty about the outcome of sellers in 2026 because we’re already seeing the list price drop a little bit compared to last year, so that suggests, to me, more acceptance of where the market is in 2026.
The “lock-in effect” — the reluctance of homeowners to sell and forego low mortgage rates — is also beginning to subside, albeit slowly, Hale added.
“For the first time, we can now see that a proportion of households have a mortgage of 6% or more. [rates] exceeds the share with a mortgage of 3% or lower [rates],” he said.
