Hispanic Homeowners Fuel Texas Housing Growth

Texas, as you may have heard, is growing explosively -- and Hispanic homeowners are the main reason why. The latest Census Bureau figures show the Lone Star State grew by 20 percent, to over 25 million people, recording about a quarter of the nation's overall growth.

To put it another way, of the nation's 17 million new bodies, almost a quarter chose to live in Texas. And 68 percent of those newcomers are Hispanic.

The implications are huge politically, as Texas stands to gain 4 new Congressional seats from this expansion, and Hispanic leaders want in.

Demographers say most of the Hispanic growth came from births to families already living here – second generation Hispanics. Migration from other states and countries contributed about 45 percent. One of those was the family of the Mayor of Monterrey, Mexico, who moved his family to a suburb of Dallas for protection.

Texas's Hispanic-fueled growth spurt out-paced the entire country's, and helped brace our housing market. In contrast, the U.S. grew only 9.7 percent over the last decade, to a total population of 281,421,906.