The Role of Occupational Achievement in Homeownership Attainment by Immigrants and Native Borns in Five Metropolitan Areas

Abstract

This article addresses the homeownership attainment of immigrants and native borns in five metropolitanareas: Los Angeles; New York; Washington, DC; Atlanta; and Philadelphia. The major questionfor analysis is the role of occupational achievement in shaping the attainment of homeownership forspecific cohorts between 1980 and 1990. This effect is estimated in addition to that of human capitalendowments, life cycle maturation, lengthening duration of U.S. residence, and earnings.We find that occupational achievement makes a significant contribution to homeownershipattainment,net of other factors, and that this effect is remarkably consistent across metropolitan areas, immigrantgroups, and birth cohorts. The analysis also unveils substantial differences in ownership trends betweenmetropolitan regions. Although immigrant groups attain lower levels of homeownership thannon-Hispanic whites who are native born, the rate of progress toward homeownership for immigrantsgenerally parallels that for young whites in the same metropolitan area.