Immigrants underpin the U.S. housing market

Immigrants real estate buyers have underpinned the housing market across the United States in the last decade and will continue to drive demand at least until the end of 2020 , according to a new study.

Foreign buyers accounted for most of the growth in property ownership in states traditionally populated by immigrants and offset a decline in purchases by Americans by birth in other areas , according to a report prepared by demographers at the University of South California Mortgage Bankers Association of the country.

Specifically , the number of homeowners in the U.S. who were born in other countries has increased every decade since 1990. Immigrants, representing 13% of the population, constituted 39% of the net growth in homeownership between 2000 and 2010. In the decade from 2010 to 2020 , representing 36 % of this growth, the report projected .

"The group of home buyers is much more diverse than in the past ," said Mike Fratantoni , vice director of research of the association. "The demand for immigrants is far more important nationally ( ... ) of what an ordinary person would ."

Immigrants are more likely to buy a home once they are installed and become more financially stable in the U.S. , usually after having rented for a few years . Among Hispanics who came to the U.S. during the 80's , the home ownership rose from 15 % in 1990 to 53% in 2010, and is projected to reach 61 % by 2020 , the report said.

Although the growth of immigrant populations in California and New York have fallen below their highs of 80 and 90 , respectively , the growth of home purchases by foreigners rose to record rates between 2000 and 2010. During this period , immigrants constituted 82 % jump in home ownership in California and 65 % in New York.

In Texas and Florida, the number of foreign property owners continued to climb between 2000 and 2010 despite the expansion in the immigrant population leveled . In the same decade , immigrants also accounted for a significant share of ownership of real estate in states like Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio and Michigan, the report says .

In the southeastern U.S. , which began to experience a wave of immigration in the 90s , foreigners accounted for 34 % of the increase homeownership in the state of Georgia and 25% in North Carolina during the decade completed in 2010.

Recent immigrants are playing similar to the generation of baby boomers role , as people born in the U.S. is known in the two years following the Second World War and in the 70 and 80 entered the large mass housing market decades , says study co-author John Pitkin , an associate researcher with the group studying population dynamics at the University of southern California.

The Ruy Martins Brazilian , who arrived in Atlanta , Georgia, in 1999 , rented a two-bedroom apartment for two years while working in the construction sector and cleaning houses with his wife. In 2001 , the couple got a mortgage to buy a house with three bedrooms. After that Martins opened a business outsourcing restoring homes for insurance companies , bought a bigger house in 2007 .

"We live a life -style ," said Martins , 41 and father of three children. Now rented the smaller house.

The study of the Mortgage Bankers Association , which is based on census data does not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants. Undocumented immigrants often get a mortgage using an individual tax identification number , known as ITIN for its acronym in English, or through an intermediary.

The trend toward home ownership among immigrants contributed to a slowdown in rental rates after 2000 , the study found .

However, the rate of home ownership among immigrants remains below that of the native USA: 52.4 % vs 67 %.

And after the housing collapse , a study conducted last year by the Pew Hispanic Center found that the sharp decline in housing prices left 28% of Latino-owned housing, including many immigrants, owing more on mortgage payments than their homes were worth twice the percentage of homeowners in the general population .

Still, " the expansion of demand for real estate among those born outside the U.S. was vital to prevent the recession was even worse ," says the report.

Add the price of housing in Miami

The median sale price of single family homes in Miami rose last March 25.1 % from the same period in 2012 , representing the highest annual increase since 2005, according to data released Monday by the Realtors Association of Miami data .

The condo prices , which have remained stable for 21 consecutive months were 19.3 % higher in March this year than in 2012.

Thus, the average price of a detached house in the "city of the sun" was $ 225,000 in March , 16% higher than in February , while condominiums reached an average sales price of $ 167,000 , ie 1.2 % more than the previous month , said this association realtors in a statement.

The real estate market of Miami " is undergoing a comprehensive strengthening fueled by strong demand and limited supply ," said Natascha Tello , president of the board of the Association of Realtors in this city , one of the most attractive for foreign investors, many Latin American real estate .

In the end, the "local market has seen consistent double digit appreciation for a significant number of months as the housing inventory declines ," reflecting the " demand that exists for any type of property in Miami."

In short , sales of residential properties in Miami -Dade County " increased by 2.7 % in March compared with a year earlier sales" and the list of houses at the end of March fell by 5 % compared to previous year , " at a time when the market was experiencing a housing shortage ."

64 % of all closed sales in that county were made ​​in cash , reflecting the "strong presence of international buyers in the real estate market in Miami."

Some large cities at risk of new U.S. housing bubble

The sharp increase in the price of houses in some of the largest cities in the United States point to a possible new housing bubble in those areas , according to Robert Shiller , who helped create an influential indicator of housing prices in the U.S. .

Shiller said that large price increases in Las Vegas , Los Angeles, San Francisco , Miami and Phoenix , driven in part by a large flow of money from outside investors , are a possible sign of future problems .

" There is a risk of bubbles in these cities ," he told Reuters on Wednesday Shiller , co -founder of the home price index S & P / Case- Shiller . " The increase in housing prices has been dramatic. Resembles the beginning of the most recent bubble ," he added .

There is a risk that prices will rise for another year in these areas and then falling back , hurting new buyers trying to compete in markets where low inventories and Wall Street investors bid up prices with their money .

The latest report from the Case- Shiller Standard & Poor's index showed that prices of single-family homes in 20 metropolitan areas in the United States rose 12.1 percent in April , marking the largest annual increase in seven years.

The gains were led by price increases of 24 percent in San Francisco , 22.3 percent in Las Vegas, 21.5 percent in Phoenix, 19 percent in Los Angeles and 13 percent in Miami.

Price increases were the latest sign that the U.S. housing market , a mainstay of the economy, may be in a sustainable recovery from the housing crisis that caused the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent recession.

Shiller said it is still too early to predict how healthy market recovery , and he was not sure if overall prices would continue to rise for another year.

However, he said it was unlikely a collapse of the housing market in the short term , because lending standards have tightened and government oversight of the mortgage industry has been strengthened.