The U.S. began as a melting pot, and still continues this legacy today. Almost every person in the U.S. can trace their roots back to other cultures and countries. One of the largest cultures in our country now is undeniably Spanish; whether Hispanic or Latino, Spanish speakers have grown to hold a huge portion of the U.S. population.
About 13.2% of the current population speaks Spanish rather than English at home, according to recent statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, and 8.2% of people who speak another language speak English less than “very well.” To break this percentage down, out of the approximately 333 million people in the U.S., there are about 44 million who speak Spanish at home.
As the Spanish-speaking population continues to grow, so does its homeownership rate. The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) found in their 2021 State of Hispanic Homeownership Report that 18.1% of new homeowners were Latino or Hispanic. Not only this, but in 2021 the Latino/Hispanic homeownership rate reached 48.4%, up from 47.5% in 2019.
Teresa Palacios Smith, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer for HomeServices of America and HSF Affiliates, LLC, commented that in her experiences not only as a past president of NAHREP and a co-founder of their Atlanta channel, but as a Latina woman herself who grew up in a Spanish-speaking household, that these numbers really can be glimpsed all across the U.S.
“It appears that no matter where in the U.S. I travel, there is a visible abundance of Latinos who are involved in all aspects of the economy and making an impact throughout our society–from entry-level and service roles to operating thriving businesses to holding contributing and leadership roles in academia, finance, health, hospitality, housing, government, media, service and in the corporate arena,” said Smith. “You hear Spanish and Spanglish spoken everywhere, and you can also see the increase of restaurants, music and advertising reflecting the cultural nuances of the Latino community”
Two states NAHREP pinpoint as having large Spanish-speaking homeownership growths are also two states that are very notable in local and pop culture for their Hispanic and Latino populations: Florida at +1.5 million and New York at +530,000
In Florida, Miami has been known for years as a point of concentration for the Hispanic and Latino population. In Miami Beach, Sebastian Vallejo, managing director of the local Brown Harris Stevens office, shared that one of the things he’s seen that causes an increase in Hispanic activity is politics in Latin America.
“One of the things that has directly increased activity is when countries get controlled by parties that usually have very strong left wing policies,” said Vallejo. “Their policies have gone into nationalizing assets from corporations and individuals and most of them try to secure their wealth into investing some money in Miami. Everyday we see more Argentinian and Colombian companies and people interacting on a daily basis with our market. So I wouldn’t be surprised if all these changes that are happening significantly increase in the next five years.”
Meanwhile New York’s Itzy Garay, managing director of the Brown Harris Stevens office in Brooklyn, said that “You don’t see a large Hispanic population the way you do in Miami. In Miami you have people coming from Venezuela, like everywhere… I don’t think you see it as much in New York City like you would in Miami… it’s a little different,” but, “I think that we’re trying to be really supportive and make sure that all our resources can support the Spanish community.”
As homeownership among the Spanish-speaking population continues to increase, much of the real estate industry has made efforts to support this population and help them to accessibly find their dream homes. Companies and brokerages across the industry have worked to instill everything from policies to technologies to build a support network for Spanish-speaking homebuyers.
Palacios Smith noted that in her work in diversity for HomeServices of America, the company has pledged full-fledged support of the Spanish-speaking population and has implemented many policies to fulfill this. They have numerous training programs for agents and brokers to target and assist Spanish speakers, translation services, and more.
“Our family of companies has established diversity councils and I am proud to say that I am the executive sponsor of Our Familia, an ERG (employee research group) supported by Berkshire Hathaway Energy, our parent company. These councils are comprised of executive leadership, sales managers, agents and staff. They support a wide variety of robust initiatives focused on enhancing their local communities and specifically working on campaigns to build wealth through homeownership in the Latino community at the local, regional and national level,” added Smith. “In addition to providing essential financial support, we are engaged at the national conferences, regional councils and local chapters as keynote speakers, board members, panel participants and discussion facilitators further demonstrating our commitment to this community.”
ERA Realty and Better Homes and Gardens’ Expansion Brand Portfolio is also making moves to help Spanish speakers. Frank Malpica, the companies’ senior vice president of strategic growth, and his team, rolled out a few different technology and tool updates in 2022 to help their broker/owners and sales associates establish a connection with Spanish-speaking homebuyers and sellers.
One of these updates is mobile lead generation and consumer information products. “For instance, we offer a lead-gen tool that enables prospective buyers to text the listing agent for information on a property and automatically opt-in to receive this information in Spanish,” said Malpica. “Consumers can access these keywords or property codes from a variety of different marketing vehicles, such as yard signs, open house collateral and more. In addition, we provide automated property marketing videos, our automated moving concierge program, and client follow up systems all translated into Spanish–along with service representatives that speak Spanish to provide greater support in the moving concierge program.”
Vallejo shared that in his specific market of Miami Beach, “the Hispanic community and the Spanish language is a must. We are kind of trusted in a way that more than half of our staff is very fluent in Spanish and at least half of our agents are fluent in Spanish. We’re very conscious of the need to constantly include Spanish. We always encourage as part of the development process to include Spanish in their skills to be able to address a broader audience.”
“We’re always inviting Spanish-speaking agents and the community to reach out to us and feel comfortable speaking in Spanish, not thinking that we’re an American company that only speaks English but multicultural and multilanguage,” continued Vallejo. “If we’re working with a Spanish-speaking seller who feels more comfortable addressing the process in Spanish, then most of our collaterals and everything that we work around is usually translated to Spanish so they can feel comfortable doing everything and understanding everything.”
Meanwhile in Brooklyn, Garay said that for her offices, “All of the documentation that we have–any real estate material–can be converted to Spanish, and most of our documents already are in English and Spanish. Additionally…I oversee six offices in Brooklyn and more than 50% of my staff, including myself, are Spanish speaking. Additionally on our website we have the option to find agents who are Spanish speaking.”
“Most recently we just had Hispanic Heritage month and we try to highlight Hispanic-owned businesses at the company level. We did a video with both agents and staff that are of Hispanic heritage and what it means to them and we put that out across many different media channels…so constantly just trying to get exposure and be out there,” said Garay. “We have a Brown Harris Stevens blog where we highlight Hispanic-owned businesses both in New York City and Miami. So we try to, and especially during Hispanic Heritage month, we do a lot to highlight those and support our local communities. Especially in Brooklyn where it’s very neighborhood centric we want to support the local vendors.”
In addition, Garay mentioned that Brown Harris Stevens CEO Bess Freedman is fluent in Spanish. “She frequently addresses the Spanish community–she’s been on Telemundo to talk about the real estate community and getting things out there so I think we’re very active in that regard,” said Garay.
Brown Harris Stevens also has a relocation department at the international level that Garay explained assists customers all over the world, such as Latin America, Spain and more. “We’re part of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, which is in about 70 countries. We have a division specifically to help, whether it’s outgoing referrals or incoming. We help both ways, people coming into New York City or any of our other markets that we service, and also being able to help any clients that might be relocating,” said Garay.
Looking ahead toward the future, NAHREP expects Hispanic/Latino homeownership rates to reach 50% by 2025. With more and more efforts underway across the industry to help prospective Spanish-speaking homebuyers find their dream home, this rate doesn’t seem too far away at all.
“As someone who knows from firsthand experience what owning a home means to my family, I am confident that homeownership will continue to be a driving force for many Latino families across the country,” Palacios Smith said. “In addition, Latinos are the youngest demographic with the average age of 30 (prime buying years); that along with the desire to own a home of their own, will be a leading factor in homeownership growth for the Latino community.”
