We’ve seen this view before but different vehicles make the scene unique. Looking south on SW Park Avenue from SW Yamhill, a Meier & Frank delivery truck is seen at center with a Rose City Pies delivery van parked at the curb. The car on the left curb has a “Walker’s” logo on the spare tire and it looks like a Jantzen girl figure in the center of the spare. The Admiral Hotel is visible across SW Taylor and beyond is the Old Heathman Hotel.

(City of Portland Archives)

Among other demographic variables, such as age, income, or stage of life, a buyer’s race or ethnicity can play a significant role in how he/she evaluates the characteristics and features of a prospective home.  A new study recently released by NAHB, What Home Buyers Really Want: Ethnic Preferences, was designed to compare and contrast how housing preferences are affected– or not –by the racial/ethnic background of the home buyer, after controlling for factors such as age and income.  The analysis focused on four racial/ethnic groups of buyers:

• White (Non-Hispanic),
• African-American (non-Hispanic),
• Hispanic, and
• Asian.

Survey results corroborate well-known demographic differences between these groups:

• Minority home buyers are younger than White (non-Hispanic) buyers: the median African-American buyer is 39 years old, the median Hispanic buyer is 37, and the median Asian buyer is 36. The median White buyer is 43 years old.
• Asian home buyers have the highest median household…