Asian Americans to lead future homeownership growthMortgagePress.comAsian American homebuyers
The Asian Real Estate Association
of America (AREAA) and the University of California, Los
Angeles (UCLA) Asian American Studies Center have released an
in-depth study titled "A New Path to Homeownership for Asian
American Home Buyers," which provides a comprehensive, up-to-date
analysis of demographic trends within the Asian American consumer
housing market.
"AREAA is pleased to commission this historic study regarding
the homeownership patterns of the Asian American community," said
Allen M. Okamoto, AREAA chairman. "The findings from this study
shed new light on this dynamic segment of the housing market and
provide a challenge to the entire housing industry to work
creatively to solve the unique homeownership challenges facing
Asian American consumers."
Brian Montgomery, Federal Housing
Administration commissioner and assistant secretary for
housing, stated, "I commend AREAA for sponsoring this historic
study regarding the unique home-buying challenges facing Asian
Americans in this country. For FHA, this study highlights the need
for additional product flexibility, such as that proposed in the
Expanding [American] Homeownership Act of 2006, to reach all
segments of the Asian American home-buying market. We plan to work
closely with AAREA to design and offer innovative and suitable
insurance products to increase homeownership opportunities for
Asian American families."
"Studies like this one help the industry and the public gain a
better understanding of the homeownership process in the Asian
American community," said Dwight Robinson, senior vice president of
Freddie Mac. "The knowledge
gained from this study is a step toward helping the financial
services industry learn how to better serve this important, growing
market."
The AREAA/UCLA study, sponsored by Freddie Mac, the National Association of Realtors
and Bank of America, looked at
key demographic trends, such as population, homeownership and
housing, income, language and immigration, to gain a better
understanding of the socioeconomic status of Asian Americans across
the nation.
Asian Americans have seen the fastest growth in homeownership
attainment since 2000 (from 52 percent to nearly 60 percent) of any
population, and their income and credit profile suggests that this
growth will continue into the future.
The report examined disaggregated census data on Asian Americans
at the national, state and regional levels, focusing on the top 25
metropolitan areas with the largest Asian American populations.
These areas included Atlanta; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Denver;
Detroit; Fresno, Calif.; Honolulu; Houston; Las Vegas; Los Angeles;
Miami; Minneapolis; New York; Norfolk, Va.; Philadelphia; Phoenix;
Portland, Ore.; Sacramento, Calif.; San Diego; San Francisco;
Seattle; Stockton, Calif.; Tampa and Washington, D.C.
Some of the findings were as follows:
- In 2004, more than half of the Asian American population lived
in just three states: California (34 percent), New York (15
percent) and Hawaii (five percent).
- Settlement patterns at the regional level showed a greater number
of Asian Americans moving to southern metropolitan areas, such as
Asian Indians and Vietnamese to Dallas, Koreans and Vietnamese to
Atlanta and Vietnamese to Houston.
- In 2004, Asian Pacific Islanders' homeownership increased
significantly to 60 percent but still lagged behind the
homeownership rates of the national (69 percent) and non-Hispanic
white (76 percent) populations.
- In 2002, homeownership rates for Asian and Pacific Islander
naturalized-citizen householders (70.3 percent) were higher than
their native-born counterparts (56.5 percent).
- In 2002, among the naturalized-citizen householders born in Asia,
81 percent of those who entered the United States in 1974 or
earlier were homeowners, compared with 66 percent for those who
entered in 1975 or later.
The study also included findings from a national survey of real
estate, housing and mortgage industry professionals, which was
conducted to better understand the Asian American housing market
and the perceptions of those serving Asian American homebuyers in
the real estate and mortgage industries. Survey topics focused
on:
- Identifying which sectors of the Asian American community
struggle the most with homeownership;
- Factors that keep Asian Americans from realizing their
homeownership goals;
- Roles that real estate professionals play in providing
homeownership opportunities; and
- Whether Asian Americans were adequately served by existing
private and government homeownership assistance programs.
The survey also found that:
- Sixty-five percent of respondents claimed that it was very
important to offer culturally sensitive loan programs to immigrant
and low-income potential borrowers;
- Fifty-seven percent of participants felt that they were
unfamiliar with cultural or language-based government-sponsored or
non-profit homeownership programs; and
- Fifty percent of respondents reported that they think lenders do
not often incorporate home-buying counseling as standard in their
mortgage products.
For more information, visit www.areaa.org.
