MIAMI - Top City With Highest Foreign-Born Homeownership

The United States currently has the highest percentage of immigrants since 1910 with 13.7 percent of the population being foreign-born. This has led to economic growth from 2011 to 2016 that accounted for much of the nation’s post-recession growth according to a study from Oxford University and Citi Research.

A new report from LendingTree shows that immigrants are buying homes in specific parts of the country – especially dynamic urban centers, which has helped fuel the residential home market in those areas. LendingTree reports a high correlation between home prices and foreign-born homeownership rates in U.S. markets.

“This is not to say that immigrants raise home prices — rather, it’s likely that immigrants gravitate towards these cities which have higher home prices, as they also have more dynamic economies and thus more employment opportunities,” LendingTree Chief Economist Tendayi Kapfidze writes.

Most of the cities that ended up on the bottom of the list also tended to have low home prices. LendingTree found that the percentage of foreign-born homeowners in the bottom five cites is lower than 3 percent, even though home values were extremely affordable at an average of $160,000.

Miami topped the list of cities in the country with the most foreign-born residents at 41 percent with a foreign-born homeownership rate of 26 percent. Compared to the California-based cities that made up the top 5, Miami’s median home value seems affordable at $278,700.

Source: Miami Agent Magazine