A new real estate report suggests that more than 51,000 new Black and Hispanic developers, almost two million new jobs, and more than $106 billion in new business revenue could be unlocked.

That is, of course, if real estate development stakeholders can help remove the constraints that hold Black and Hispanic developers back.

The report, “Breaking the Glass Bottleneck: The Economic Potential of Black and Hispanic Real Estate Developers and the Constraints They Face,” was published by Grove Impact and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC).

“With Black and Hispanic developers making up under one percent of the field, it's no surprise that diverse communities continue to face significant housing challenges. In publishing this report, we hope to demonstrate the tremendous economic benefits of uplifting diverse real estate developers, not just for underserved neighbourhoods, but for the economy at large,” Derwin Sisnett, lead partner at Grove Impact, said in a statement.

The constraints include funding research, changing public policy, improving public, private, and philanthropic initiatives, expanding networks, and building a pipeline.

It counted only six Black developers with annual revenue between $17 million and $49.9 million. There was just one Hispanic developer in this range. It estimates that 382 white developers on that level.

The report estimates that small Black and Hispanic developers (those generating $350,000 or less in annual revenue) get more profit than similarly sized white developers.

“Our country cannot afford to let the enormous potential of Black and Hispanic developers continue to go to waste,” Howard Wial, senior vice president and director of research at ICIC, said in a statement. “And while the industry has a long way to go before it's truly equitable and inclusive, we are leaving massive opportunities and wealth on the table if we allow this status quo to prevail any longer. The time is now for new policy, new investment, and new efforts by existing firms to unleash the power of diverse developers.”

The report was published with funding from the Siegel Family Endowment, a non-profit working at the intersections of learning, workforce, and infrastructure.

“Real estate is one of the most powerful vehicles for wealth creation today, yet Black and brown communities continue to be vastly underrepresented when it comes to property ownership,” Katy Knight, executive director at Siegel, said in a statement. “By working to remove the many constraints facing developers of colour, we can unlock a new generation of real estate professionals with the proximate experience needed to finally bridge racial wealth and housing gaps while also spurring economic activity that boosts the entire country.”