Immigrant population will influence mortgage market

Northwestern Financial Review, May 1-May 14, 2002

New immigrants represent a potential homebuyer market of 4 million borrowers over the next decade, according to a study released by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Immigrants face substantial obstacles in buying a home and lag behind U.S.-born households in homeownership rates, yet they represent one of the industry's best new markets, according to the study, conduced by the Research Institute for Housing America.

"Foreign-born households will have an important influence in many housing and mortgage markets in the coming years, as they are assimilated into homeownership," said Douglas Duncan, a senior vice president and the chief economist of the mortgage bankers trade group.