New Americans, New Homeowners: The Role and Relevance of Foreign-Born First-Time Homebuyers in the U.S. Housing Market

Rachel Bogardus Drew

In 2001, there were over 5.7 million foreign-born1 homeowners living in the United States, with $1.2 trillion in aggregate house value and $876 billion in home equity. More than one-fifth of these households had become homeowners since 1997. And while foreign-born households are only 8 percent of all homeowners, they represent 14 percent of all recent first-time homebuyers. These 1.3 million recent immigrant first-time homebuyers alone already have $234 billion in house value and have accumulated $124 billion in equity in just the last five years…