Latino Home Mortgage Applications in RI Decreased 53% from 2007 to 2013

Latino Home Mortgage Applications in RI Decreased 53% from 2007 to 2013

The Latino Policy Institute and HousingWorks RI, two policy groups at Roger Williams University, have released an infographic that shows the challenges facing Rhode Island Latinos and some of the reasons Latino renters are having difficulty becoming homeowners. 

The research analysis investigates the median renter household incomes in comparison with prices for single-family homes from 2007 to 2013. The median single-family home prices outpaced both Latino and non-Latino incomes in those years, but the median renter household income for Latinos dropped 16%, while the median income for Non-Latinos remained the same.

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Some of the facts according to the data are as follows:
 
In Rhode Island 26% percent of Latinos own their homes compared to the 64% of non-Latinos. Also, there was a 53% decrease of Latino Home Mortgage Applications in Rhode Island from 2007 to 2013.
While only 68% on non-Latino homeowners have mortgages, 90% of Latino homeowners are said to have mortgages. From this 90%, 56% many of Latinos house mortgages are cost-burdened which means that more than 30% of their incomes goes toward housing costs. 

In response to these statistics on Latino homeownership, the director of the Latino Policy Institute, Anna Cano Morales said,  “We need them to become more engaged in the housing market, to be able to save enough money to purchase their first home, or to build equity to pass down to the next generation. The first step is addressing the affordability gap facing so many Latino households so they can play an even larger role in Rhode Island’s economic future.”

In comparison to Rhode Island, Nationally 63% percent of non-Latinos own their homes while only 24% of Latinos do. Morales believes, “there is untapped potential in the Rhode Island market.”