For the third consecutive year in a row, the percentage of Hispanic homeowners rose in 2017, and it still continues to rise. They are the only demographic in the United States that can claim this statement to be true. The Hispanic home ownership rate rose from 0.2% to 46.2% from 2016 to 2017, gaining more than 167,000 new Hispanic homeowners. In 2017, there were 7.4 million Hispanic homeowners in America.

As for the overall home ownership rate in the United States, it increased for the first time in 13 years. In 2016, the rate increased from 63.4% to 63.9% in 2017. The United States gained 1,109,000 homeowners for 2017, while 15% of those were accounted for by Hispanics.

The Hispanic population is also the fast-growing one in the United States. In 2017, the population grew up 1.1 million, accounting for 51% of for total population growth in the U.S. The population is expected to grow to 119 million by 2060. Along with that, another 6 million Hispanic households are expected to emerge by 2024.

So, what is causing this growth? Well, it’s first important to understand that the growing Hispanic population is concentrated in three states: California, Texas, and Florida. These three states have the fastest-growing home prices with a short supply. California hosts 15.3 million people, Texas has 10.9 million, and Florida is home to 5.1 million Hispanics.

These three states have all recently been hit by natural disasters in 2017. With hurricanes and earthquakes, the states got quite a beating. However, these three states also have a number of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) grantees. Out of the 800,000 DACA recipients in the nation, 25.7% live in California, 14.1% live in Texas, and 5.2% live in Florida.

Living in these states presents challenges for Hispanic homeowners. There are few housing options, as well as many unknowns related to status and unpredictability of storms. Homeowners in Florida, for instance, must know how to handle their homes in a crisis like a hurricane. For example, each gallon of rainwater weighs eight pounds, and overflowing gutters can hold weights in the thousands of pounds. This can destroy a home’s gutter system, causing other problems, in case of a hurricane.

“The continued shortage of affordable housing inventory, coupled with prolonged natural disasters concentrated in the nation’s most populous Latino states and increasing uncertainty over immigration policy, have created significant hurdles for Latino homeownership and economic saliency,” the annual National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) report states.