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Survey finds Hispanics, millennials among those most interested in homeownership

 
Published March 2, 2016

Looking to sell a home soon in the Tampa Bay area? The most likely buyer might be Hispanic.

A new survey by Zillow found that 15 percent of Hispanic respondents said they expect to buy a home in the bay area within the next 12 months. Next likeliest were millennials at 13 percent and white respondents at 12 percent.

For its Housing Confidence Index, Zillow did a nationwide survey of 10,000 renters and homeowners from various age and ethnic groups about their views on homeownership. Hispanics were most in favor of owning a home, with nearly 70 percent of Hispanics in both the bay area and nationally associating homeownership with the American dream.

"For young Americans and Americans of color, the opportunity to own a home is a big part of that dream,'' said Svenja Gudell, Zillow's chief economist. "It is often assumed that homeownership holds little of interest for these groups. … But that's simply not true, and their optimism and determination today will be hugely important to the stability and growth of the housing market tomorrow.''

Nationally, 65 percent of millennials — ages 18 to 34 — value owning a home even more than their parents and grandparents do. In the bay area, 55 percent of millennials feel homeownership is necessary to fulfill the American dream.

Among the bay area racial and ethnic groups surveyed, 50 percent of Asian respondents associated owning a home with the American dream, the smallest percentage of any group. About equal percentages of black and white respondents favor homeownership — 60 percent of blacks and 59.1 percent of whites.

Among the age groups surveyed in the Tampa Bay area, people 65 and older were most likely to associate homeownership with the American dream (65.4 percent) followed by those in the 35-49 age bracket (64.7 percent).