Achieving Spatial Equity Through Suburban Homeownership? Neighborhood Attributes of Hispanic Homebuyers

Rocio Sanchez-Moyano
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco or the Federal Reserve System.

This article examines whether Hispanics achieve spatial equity with Whites through homeownership by comparing the neighborhoods of recent Hispanic and White homebuyers using the 2018 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data coupled with neighborhood information from the Decennial Census and 2014–2018 American Community Survey for the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas. It measures aggregate differences between the neighborhoods of Hispanic and White homebuyers and uses regression models to test whether these differences hold for demographically and financially similar homebuyers. It also compares urban and suburban neighborhoods to examine whether neighborhood differences are attenuated or exacerbated based on urban/suburban location. It finds that Hispanic buyers are purchasing homes in neighborhoods with fewer White neighbors and more economic disadvantage (as measured through poverty rates, median incomes, and median home values) and with greater racial change and economic decline, even after controlling for demographic, financial, and loan characteristics of the buyer. It also finds that the gaps in neighborhood characteristics between Hispanics and Whites are often just as large in suburbs as in cities, and that smaller suburban gaps are a result of declining conditions in suburbs relative to cities.