Did You Know? Latinos Account for Half of U.S. Population Growth Since 2000

By the Gonzales Group

RISMEDIA, Jan. 1, 2009-According the Pew Hispanic Center, since 2000 Hispanics have accounted for more than half (50.5%) of the overall population growth in the United States. Also, since 2000 many Latinos have settled in counties that once had few Latinos, continuing a pattern that began in the previous decade. But there are subtle differences in Hispanic settlement patterns in the current decade compared with those of the 1990s.

The dispersion of Latinos in the new century has tilted more to counties in the West and the Northeast. Despite the new tilt, however, the South accounted for a greater share of overall Latino population growth than any other region in the new century. There is also an ever-growing concentration of Hispanic population growth in metropolitan areas.

These findings emerge from the Pew Hispanic Center’s analysis of the Census Bureau’s 2007 county population estimates, supplemented by 1990 and 2000 county population counts from the Decennial Censuses.

What does this mean to real estate professionals? It means that the homebuyers in your near term and extended future will play a major role in your business.

Over the next five-year period, total households are forecasted to grow about 5%, which will add about 5 million new households. The Hispanic market homebuyers will make up a majority of this growth. For example: Hispanics, the largest segment, is expected to grow about 17%, resulting in roughly 1.5 million new households, which constitutes about 28% of the total five-year growth estimate.

So how do you prepare to accommodate the increased buying power and growth of this population? It requires attention to cultural awareness and education of the home buying process. Many Hispanic homebuyers have little, if any, point of reference for what a real estate professional is and the role they play in the transaction.

One thing is certain-the home buying landscape is changing and if you are going to capitalize on it, you need to tweak your business plans and marketing approaches to accommodate the new consumer.

At the Gonzales Group we provide the Hispanic market analysis to help you understand the growth at your local market to execute an effective Hispanic strategy and build profitable connections with the multicultural consumers.

For more information, visit www.thegonzalesgroup.com.

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