New Study Focuses on Asian-American Homeownership Trends

Asian-Americans represent a growing purchasing power force in the nation’s housing market, according to new data released by the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA).

 

During the fourth quarter of 2018, Asian-Americans represented the second highest level of homeownership rates by race at 58.1 percent, surpassed only by White households at 73.6 percent. The AREAA report also cited Zillow data that found 58.1 percent of Asian-American households owned a home as of 2016 and this demographic’s families earned a median income of $82,627 that enabled them to afford homes worth an average of $541,505, thus giving them purchasing power to buy 85.2 percent of all listings nationwide. The highest Asian-American homeownership rates are in Riverside, Calif. (70.3 percent), Washington, D.C. (68.7 percent), Orlando (67.6 percent), Houston (67.3 percent) and Miami (66 percent).

 

AREEA also noted that the average loan amount for Asian-American buyers alone increased nearly 40 percent from 2004 and 2017, and this demographic takes out larger loan amounts compared to the average population. In 2017, average purchase loans by Asian-Americans were just over $390,000 and average refinancing was at $368,000.

 

Tom Truong, AREEA’s 2019 President, noted that Asian-Americans “have been relocating across the country, purchasing mortgage products and real estate at rates higher than other ethnic demographics … families are relocating into all regions of the country, including the Midwest and South, in search of homeownership.”

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