People who move to U.S. cities emerging as new magnets for foreign immigrants and Americans alike are not necessarily more likely to own homes, a new USC study shows. In the past, researchers say, most immigrants came to this country through one of six traditional gateway cities: New York, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles or San Diego.
Now, large numbers of immigrants are coming from overseas to 14 fast- growing cities that are the new gateways: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Sacramento, Seattle, Tampa, the Washington, D.C./Baltimore corridor and West Palm Beach. The study by USC's Lusk Center for Real Estatecolor> found that both foreign-born and U.S.-born people who move to one of the 14 cities have lower homeownership rates than households that simply move within a metropolitan area. "These cities have experienced large-scale population increases from immigrants moving directly from overseas or migrating domestically from larger cities, as well as an influx of U.S.-born households migrating domestically. "While we assumed that lower housing costs in these emerging markets might improve homeownership rates, the results, in fact, suggest that leaving established gateways does not provide migrants a boost in homeownership attainment. "They need time to establish themselves in the labor market, achieve an income level that makes homeownership possible, and find a home that is affordable," said USC professor Gary Painter, who authored the study along with a graduate student. The researchers -- who analyzed census data from 1990 and 2000 -- found a trend in which having multiple immigrants and multiple incomes in a household meant homeownership was more likely. The researchers say immigrants are pooling their incomes to finance home purchases.