Minority and Immigrant Homeownership Experience: Evidence from the 2009 American Housing Survey

Using data from the 2009 American Housing Survey and Hazard Model, this paper provides empirical evidence that the homeownership experience during the recent housing boom and housing bust was not homogenous across all groups in the U.S. The recent deterioration of underwriting practices and a boom in mortgage lending did not benefit minorities and immigrant homeownership in the U.S. Blacks experienced significantly lower increase in homeownership than the whites but highest exit from homeownership particularly if they obtained the mortgage during subprime boom period from 2004 – 2006. Hispanics, on the other hand, did not experience significant increase in homeownership and neither did they face a higher exit from homeownership compared to whites. However, Hispanic immigrants were worse off in the recent housing market than Hispanic natives. Immigrants were worse off in the recent housing market than the natives, but naturalized immigrants fared better than the non-naturalized immigrants.