The Decline of the Immigrant Homeownership Advantage: Life-Cycle,
Declining Fortunes and Changing Housing Careers in Montreal, Toronto
and Vancouver, 1981-2001
by Michael Haan
Business and Labour Market Analysis Division
Analytical Studies Branch research paper series, No. 238
Context
In the past, working-age immigrant families in Canada's large
urban centres had higher homeownership rates than the Canadian-born.
Over the past twenty years however, this advantage has reversed, due
jointly to a drop in immigrant homeownership rates and a rise in the
popularity of homeownership among the Canadian-born. This paper seeks
to explains these changes, using the standard homeownership models.
Objectives
This paper assesses the efficacy of standard consumer choice models,
which include indicators for age, income, education, family type, plus
several immigrant characteristics, to explain the immigrant homeownership
decline.
Findings
The main findings are that the standard model almost completely explains
the immigrant homeownership advantage in 1981, as well as the rise over
time among the Canadian-born, but even after accounting for the well-known
decline in immigrant economic fortunes, only about one-third of the
1981-2001 immigrant change in homeownership rates is explained.
Data Sources: 1981-2001 Censuses of Canada
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