Asian Americans to Lead Future Homeownership Growth According to UCLA Study

WASHINGTON, May 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center today released an in-depth study entitled, "A New Path to Homeownership for Asian American Home Buyers," which provides the first comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of demographic trends within the fast-growing minority market -- the Asian American consumer market.

"AREAA is pleased to commission this historic study regarding the homeownership patterns of the Asian American community," said Allen M. Okamoto, AREAA Chairman. "The findings from this study shed new light on this dynamic segment of the housing market, and provide a challenge to the entire housing industry to work creatively to solve the unique homeownership challenges facing Asian American consumers."

Brian Montgomery, FHA Commissioner and Assistant Secretary for Housing, stated, "I commend AREAA for sponsoring this historic study regarding the unique homebuying challenges facing Asian Americans in this country. For FHA, this study highlights the need for additional product flexibility, such as that proposed in the Expanding Homeownership Act of 2006, to reach all segments of the Asian American homebuying market. We plan to work closely with AREAA to design and offer innovative and suitable insurance products to increase homeownership opportunities for Asian American families."

"Studies like this one help the industry and the public gain a better understanding of the homeownership process in the Asian American community," said Dwight Robinson, senior vice president of Freddie Mac. "The knowledge gained from this study is a step toward helping the financial services industry learn how to better serve this important, growing market."

The AREAA/UCLA study, sponsored by Freddie Mac, National Association of Realtors, and Bank of America looked at key demographic trends such as population, homeownership and housing, income, language, and immigration to gain a better understanding of the socioeconomic status of Asian Americans across the nation.

Asian Americans have seen the fastest growth in homeownership attainment since 2000 (from 52% to nearly 60%) of any population and their income and credit profile suggests that this growth will continue into the future.

The report examines disaggregated census data on Asian Americans at the national, state, and regional level, focusing on the top twenty-five metropolitan areas with the largest Asian American populations. These areas include: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Fresno, Honolulu, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Norfolk, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Stockton, Tampa, and Washington DC.

  Some of the findings are:

    * In 2004, more than half of the Asian population lived in just three
      states: California (34 percent), New York (15 percent), and Hawaii (5
      percent).

    * Settlement patterns at the regional level show a greater number of
      Asian Americans moving to southern metropolitan areas such as: Asian
      Indians and Vietnamese in Dallas, Texas; Koreans and Vietnamese in
      Atlanta, Georgia, and Vietnamese in Houston, Texas.

    * In 2004, Asian Pacific Islanders' homeownership increased
      significantly to 60 percent, but still lagged behind the homeownership
      rates of the national (69 percent) and non-Hispanic White (76 percent)
      populations.

    * In 2002, homeownership rates for Asian and Pacific Islander (API)
      naturalized-citizen householders (70.3 percent) were higher than their
      native-born API householder counterparts (56.5 percent).

    * In 2002, among the naturalized-citizen householders born in Asia, 81
      percent of those who entered in 1974 or earlier were homeowners,
      compared with 66 percent for those who entered in 1975 or later.

The study also includes findings from a national survey of real estate, housing, and mortgage industry professionals, which was conducted to better understand the Asian American housing market and the perceptions of those serving Asian homebuyers in the real estate and mortgage industries. Survey topics focused on:

    * Identifying which sectors of the Asian American community struggle the
      most with home ownership;

    * Factors that keep Asian Americans from realizing their homeownership
      goals;

    * Roles that real estate professionals play in providing homeownership
      opportunities;

    * Whether Asian Americans were adequately served by existing private and
      government homeownership assistance programs.

  The survey also found that:

    * 65 percent of respondents claimed it was "very important" to offer
      culturally sensitive loan programs to immigrant and low-income
      potential borrowers.

    * 57 percent of participants felt they were "not familiar" with cultural
      or language-based government-sponsored or non-profit homeownership
      programs.

    * 50 percent of respondents reported that they think lenders do "not
      often" incorporate home buying counseling as standard in their
      mortgage products.

Founded in 2003, Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) is a national professional trade organization dedicated to closing the homeownership gap facing the Asian Pacific American (APA) community.