Home buying up for N.C. Hispanics

North Carolina saw the nation's highest growth in home buying among Hispanics from 2005 to 2006, according to a report on minority lending.

Even as home buying by whites slipped 2 percent statewide, home buying by all minority groups grew in that period, according to the 2007 Annual Minority Lending Report by Genworth Financial and Compliance Technologies.

While Hispanic home buying dropped 5.2 percent nationally, it grew 21.7 percent in North Carolina. And home buying by all minorities in North Carolina rose nearly 6 percent. The home-buying numbers are based on mortgage loans made.

"The momentum we've been seeing in minority home buying at a national level unfortunately came to a halt in 2006, though for Hispanic home buyers, North Carolina was an exception," Maurice Jourdain-Earl, managing director of Compliance Technologies, said in a statement.

Wilmington's growth rate of Hispanic home buyers, however, was 1.52 percent, while Charlotte saw growth of more than 48 percent and Raleigh, 8.4 percent, according to the report by Genworth, a Richmond-based insurance holding company, and Compliance Technologies, a consulting firm based in Washington, D.C.

Though Wilmington's Hispanic home-buying figures trailed the state's, it came against a backdrop of slowing general home sales. The area's single-family home sales dropped 19 percent from 2005 to 2006, according to figures from the Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors. Meanwhile, average prices rose during the period.

Additionally, the Wilmington area's Hispanic population, while growing rapidly, is still far outnumbered by whites and blacks. According to U.S. Census figures released this year, Hispanics comprised 2.7 percent of the population of New Hanover County in 2005, while that number was 6.4 percent for the state. Non-Hispanic whites made up 78.7 percent, while blacks constituted 16.3 percent of the population.

The Wilmington area did not fare as well in total lending to minority groups, dropping 1.54 percent in 2006 compared with 2005, the report said, falling most among blacks at 9.86 percent, the report said.

Nationally, all minority groups and whites experienced a decline in home buying last year compared with 2005 except blacks, up 0.6 percent. Asian-American home buying slid 21.5 percent, according to the report.

The state also compared favorably in percentage of minority loans that were subprime.

While 39.1 percent of loans made nationally were subprime in 2006, 31.3 percent were subprime in North Carolina. The rate was 13.3 percent for the state's white home buyers.

Wayne Faulkner: 343-2329

wayne.faulkner@starnewsonline.com