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Economists' Outlook

Housing stats and analysis from NAR's research experts.

Homeownership Among Asians

May 2, 2016
By: Scholastica (Gay) Cororaton

May is the Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, so in a series of blogs, we look at some demographic and real estate data regarding the Asian and Pacific Islander population.[1] In the first blog, we looked at the size and the geographic location among Asians. In this second blog, we look at the homeownership rate among the Asian population.

In 2014, the homeownership rate among Asians stood at 59.9%. Homeownership among Asians still lag behind Whites  (68.3%), but is higher than other races.

2014 homeownership rate
Homeownership was highest among the Taiwanese (69.8%), Japanese (67.4%), Vietnamese (64.9%), Chinese except Taiwanese (64.4%), and Filipinos (63.2%).
Asian Homeownership
The ability to purchase a home is associated with income, and Asian housholds have relatively high median incomes compared to the national average of $52,425.  Among the major Asian groups, the highest median household incomes were of Asian Indians ($99,788), Taiwanese ($89,871), Filipinos ($88,839), and Japanese ($77,587). One reason why household income among Asians is high is that there are more family members who are earning:  60 percent of Asian family households had two or more members who were working, higher than the national average of 52 percent.
median income
workers

Like all other races, the homeownership rate among Asians declined during the housing downturn and has not recovered, dropping from 63 percent in 2007 to 59.9 percent in 2014 (3.1 percentage points). However, the decline was not as large compared to the decline in the national homeownership rate from 67.2 percent in 2007 to 63.2 percent in 2014 (4 percentage points).[2] This may be because Asian households typically have two or more earners, improving the ability of the household to withstand the financial impact of any member becoming unemployed.

homeownership rate

What this means to REALTORS®: The Asian population is expected to increase significantly in the next decades from about five percent of the U.S. population in 2015 to nearly 10 percent in 2060. Asians are relatively highly educated and Asian households have one of the highest median incomes among all races. These trends are expected to have a positive impact on Asian homeownership and home sales.

[1] Refers to the Asian Alone population.

[2] We use the homeownership rate computed from the American Community Survey because the CPS/HVS does not report the homeownership rate for Asians alone. For quarterly reports, the CPS/HVS reports Asians as part of “Other Races” and for the annual report, Asians are reported with Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders.

 

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