The Foreign-Born and the American Dream: An Analysis of Trends in and Determinants of Immigrant Homeownership
Major
Economics
Submission Type
Oral Presentation
Area of Study or Work
Economics
Expected Graduation Date
2022
Location
CNS E101
Start Date
4-9-2022 8:30 AM
End Date
4-9-2022 9:30 AM
Abstract
For many Americans, owning a home is an important step in their life journey and constitutes a meaningful component of a person’s achievement of the “American Dream.” This paper analyzes the extent and possibility for foreign-born residents of the United States to achieve homeownership. This paper utilizes Integrated Public Microdata Series (IPUMS) American Community Survey (ACS) data to analyze trends in immigrant homeownership and evaluate the factors that influence homeownership rates among immigrants. To get a view as to what changes have been occurring over time, this paper looks at data from two separate years: 2006 and 2019. Using comparisons of descriptive statistics, I determine the difference between the homeownership rates of U.S. natives and immigrants in the sample for each year. Then, I use a series of regression models to estimate the effects of different determinants of the homeownership rate. This regression analysis includes standard socioeconomic variables and a variety of immigrant-specific characteristics (such as citizenship status, linguistic isolation, years since immigration, and country of origin) in an effort to understand what factors explain the difference in observed homeownership rates between natives and immigrants and how these factors may have changed over time.
The Foreign-Born and the American Dream: An Analysis of Trends in and Determinants of Immigrant Homeownership
CNS E101
For many Americans, owning a home is an important step in their life journey and constitutes a meaningful component of a person’s achievement of the “American Dream.” This paper analyzes the extent and possibility for foreign-born residents of the United States to achieve homeownership. This paper utilizes Integrated Public Microdata Series (IPUMS) American Community Survey (ACS) data to analyze trends in immigrant homeownership and evaluate the factors that influence homeownership rates among immigrants. To get a view as to what changes have been occurring over time, this paper looks at data from two separate years: 2006 and 2019. Using comparisons of descriptive statistics, I determine the difference between the homeownership rates of U.S. natives and immigrants in the sample for each year. Then, I use a series of regression models to estimate the effects of different determinants of the homeownership rate. This regression analysis includes standard socioeconomic variables and a variety of immigrant-specific characteristics (such as citizenship status, linguistic isolation, years since immigration, and country of origin) in an effort to understand what factors explain the difference in observed homeownership rates between natives and immigrants and how these factors may have changed over time.