Guess Who's Into Home Buying Nowadays?

"More than three decades ago, you couldn't see any single woman get a mortgage" says Pat Vredevoogd Combs, the president of the National Association of Realtors. But that's a thing of the past now. According to Census Bureau data the demographics of the home buying community have changed over the course of years.

Married couples still accounts for the majority of the home buyers. But single women now purchase 22 percent of all homes. Single men accounted for only 9 percent of purchases.

This situation could be attributed to current living situation where there are big majority of single women are more financially independent. They account for 57 percent of all college graduates which is opposite 40 years ago.

"Women are more confident and financially savvy than ever before," says Vredevoogd. "Plus, there are many good mortgage products out there that work well for them."

There are more mortgage program that could accommodate their financial situation like low down payment to allow recent graduates and divorcees, who may not have a big nest egg available, to achieve homeownership sooner.

Asians leads the demographics of emerging minority homeowners that during the 10 years through 2005 homeownership rose from 51 percent to 60 percent. African Americans grew from 44 percent to 48 percent, Hispanics grew from 43 to 49 percent.The generous assortment of mortgage loans has also helped another emerging demographic: minority homeowners, who now account for 30 percent of all homes bought.

One rising group of homeowners who require little, if any, assistance consists of buyers from abroad. Just as more Americans are buying vacation homes in foreign countries, so are deep-pocketed foreigners buying second homes here. The Germans lead the groups of foreigners buying a home here in the U.S. that accounts for 13 percent purchase from overseas. Latin Americans are right on their heels, also at 13 percent. Other countries at the top of the list include Australia (11 percent), Japan (10 percent) and the United Kingdom (10 percent).

The city where most foreigners buy vacation properties…Miami and Ft. Lauderdale.