Full Citation
Title: Free and clear: national origins and progress toward unencumbered homeownership among post-civil rights era immigrants in the US
Citation Type: Journal Article
Publication Year: 2020
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2019.1592876
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Abstract: Homeownership has been a central part of community and wealth building strategies in the US, and prior research demonstrates that Post-Civil Rights Era immigrants have employed these strategies with remarkable success. However, research on immigrant homeownership does not differentiate that which is encumbered by mortgage debt and that which is ‘free and clear’ or unencumbered. This is an important distinction since wealth held in the form of encumbered home equity can be fleeting. I use US Census and American Community Survey data to chart progress toward unencumbered homeownership among immigrants born in the 1950s who immigrated to the US in the 1970s. Observing this cohort across a 25 year period (1990–2015), I uncover a robust pattern of unencumbered home equity accumulation as they approach their retirement ages. By the end of the period, this small cohort had amassed more than 66 billion dollars in unencumbered home equity, and some immigrant groups exhibited higher rates of free and clear homeownership than their US-born White counterparts. Other immigrant groups lagged in ways that cannot be explained by compositional differences between groups. I address the theoretical implications of these findings and offer suggestions for a new research agenda on immigrant advancement toward free and clear homeownership.
Url: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1592876?scroll=top&needAccess=true
Url: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1592876
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Ameka, Amon
Periodical (Full): Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
Issue: 18
Volume: 46
Pages: 3808-3828
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Migration and Immigration, Other
Countries: