Hispanic-white home value gap narrows to record low on Zillow

The gap in home values between Hispanic and White owners narrowed to the lowest on record, recouping ground lost during the pandemic, according to research from Zillow Group Inc.

Hispanic-owned houses are worth 11.9% less than those owned by non-Hispanic White households, compared with 12.4% in December 2021, a recent high in the gap, Zillow said in a blog post. At its worse, following the global financial crisis, the gap was as wide as 18%.

"Efforts to improve access to down payment assistance, credit-building programs, zoning reforms, and affordable housing construction and preservation in desirable areas are key initiatives to help this progress continue," Treh Manhertz, senior economic research scientist at Zillow, said in the post.

Asian homeowners typically own the most expensive houses in the Zillow data. Black-owned homes have the lowest value among race groups. Although their gap with White-owned houses improved slightly in the past year, it's still wider than in mid-2007, before the housing crisis, according to Zillow.

Homeownership is key to building wealth, and it's particularly true for Hispanic Americans. About 47.2% of their wealth is tied up in their primary residence, according to Federal Reserve data — much higher than other groups. 

The rise in housing prices since 2012 has created about $1.5 trillion in real estate wealth for Hispanic Americans over the period, based on Fed data.