PHOENIX (By Catherine Reagor Burrough, Arizona Republic) March 11, 2004 - Hispanic buyers could push Phoenix home sales to new heights as long as this growing group isn't priced out of the market.

Already Hispanics make up 25 percent of the Valley's population, but they are expected to eventually become the majority.

Builders, lenders and real estate agents are all trying to cash in on Hispanic home buyers because the homeownership rate lags the national average.

About 50 percent of Hispanics own a home, compared with metropolitan Phoenix's overall homeownership rate of almost 71 percent, reports the U.S. Census.

"Lots of builders and mortgage firms want to do business with Hispanics," said Jose Ramirez with Coldwell Banker Exito Realty. "But home prices are working against Hispanics in Phoenix."

Most recent immigrants can't qualify for home loans above $150,000, he said.

The median price of a used home hit a record $194,000 in January, according to the Arizona Real Estate Center at Arizona State University. New homes are selling for at least $10,000 more.

Trina Nuñez has been trying to buy a home near her parents in Maryvale for the past year.

She is looking for a house that costs $105,000 or less.

The few Nuñez has found in good shape sell within hours of being listed and go for more than the asking price.

Nuñez, an office manager for a contractor, has been saving for a down payment by living with her family, but rising home costs are outpacing what she can save.

In Maryvale, home prices have climbed 50 percent since 1999, according to The Arizona Republic's Valley Home Values survey. The median price of a home in the west Phoenix area now tops $112,000.

South Phoenix and Laveen have also become hot spots for Hispanic home buyers. In the south Phoenix ZIP code 85040, the median price hit $123,400 at the end of last year. That's a 76 percent jump since 1999.

About 84 percent of Hispanic renters nationwide "strongly" want to buy a home and 55 percent plan on buying within five years, according to a recent study, "El Sueño de su Casa: the Homeownership Potential for Mexican-Heritage Families."

The survey was done by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California and Freddie Mac. . Most new affordable housing in metropolitan Phoenix has typically gone up on the area's fringes as home builders go farther out.

But a study done by the National Association of Home Builders found Hispanics are more than twice as likely as Whites to live in central city neighborhoods.