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M R EP O RT | 15 FEATURE COVER STORY SPECIAL REPORT: COVID-19 Study: Hispanic Borrowers Vulnerable During Pandemic Will the demographic be able to recover like it did after the Great Recession? A new report by the Urban Institute says that while Hispanic homeowners contrib- uted to the success of the post- 2007 housing recovery, analysis shows the Hispanic recovery from COVID-19 may not be as significant. The report notes that Hispanics are the fastest-growing U.S. demographic, accounting for 57.6% of total population growth in 2018 and 40.4% of household growth over the past decade. During that same span, Hispanic home buyers accounted for 51.6% of the total U.S. net homeownership growth. In 2018, the Hispanic population contin- ued to $371 billion to the house share of the GDP—or 10.9%—com- pared to just 6.5% in 2000. Urban Institute says there are three factors at play that could hurt Hispanic homeowners. The report says Hispanic have higher debt relative to income. Hispanic borrowers are highly concentrated in California, New York, and Texas where housing costs are high relative to national averages. Because of their concentration in high-cost markets, Hispanic homebuyers have high debt-to- income (DTI) rations on average. Urban says the median DTI ratio for Hispanic homebuyers was 42% in 2018, compared with 28% for all U.S. homebuyers, and more than one-third of Hispanic homebuyers had DTI ratios about 45%. Hispanic homebuyers also have smaller down payments, with the media Hispanic homebuyers at 3.5% compared to the 10% for all homebuyers. More than 70% of Hispanic homebuyers purchased homes with less than 10% down. Hispanic homebuyers are also more likely to acquire the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgages, which accept as little as 3.5% down but have higher monthly payments. The analysis also said Hispanics also have more vulnerable incomes, as a higher share of Hispanic workers is employed in the industries and occupations that are most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic's economic ramifications than any other racial or ethnic group. About 11% of the Hispanic labor force works in food and accom- modation, compared with 7.6% of the general population, and about a quarter of Hispanic labor force participants are service work- ers, compared with 17.8% of the general population.