USC Lusk Center Study Shows More Immigrants Buying Homes in Mid-Size Cities
Professional Builder
... The paper, "Immigrants and Housing Markets in Mid-Size Metropolitan Areas" by Gary Painter, Ph.D., director of research at the Lusk Center and co-author Zhou Yu, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the University of Utah, looked at 60 cities with housing priced lower than in the major gateways of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. These mid-size areas, including Nashville, Detroit, Colorado Springs, Minneapolis, Sarasota and El Paso, have shown an average 27% rise in new immigrant population at a time when the gateway cities are losing residents. The immigrants in these metropolitan areas come from all over the world, with the largest numbers from Mexico and China.
"The anticipated rapid growth of U.S. immigrant populations in the coming decades coupled with their movement into mid-size metro areas has the potential to transform communities," explained Painter. "Our data suggest that immigrants are attracted to homes near active support networks of fellow immigrants and in places with lower rates of immigrant growth resulting in less competition for entry-level jobs," he added.