The impact of immigrants to the real estate market

Overall , immigrants have generated $ 3.7 billion in housing wealth in the U.S., helping to stabilize communities across America.

For an interactive map of the Impact of Immigration on the Real Estate Market you can click here .

Question: What is the main conclusion of this map?

Answer: Research shows that an increase in the absolute number of immigrants in a particular county in the period 2000-2010 resulting economic gains as well as increased demand for goods and services produced locally , hence an increase in the birth of individuals , which are reflected in the housing market.

The research found that immigrants revitalize undesirable neighborhoods in expensive metropolitan areas , opening new options for the working and middle classes buy U.S. homes. Also supports immigration housing market without exacerbating the worst affordability problems of the nation , as the immigrants themselves tend not to settle in the most expensive places .

Immigrants are also attracted by the Sun Belt ( U.S. region extending from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast east of the west ), mainly to cities like Houston, where housing has always been more affordable.

Question: How does this research say that immigration makes communities thrive ? Not the other way around , that immigrants will move to more affluent communities ?

Answer: The basic problem of the chicken and the egg was the most important challenge in the methodology . Fortunately, it is a problem that many labor economists have faced before, and the strategy used in this report reflects the techniques that have been used frequently in several reviewed by our peers about the impact of immigration on the labor market studies.

Immigrants tend to favor communities with many opportunities , but it is also clear that benefit the communities where other immigrants from their own NATIONALIT are already living .

For many immigrants , the presence of a key social network to find housing, employment and family -win for the local labor market decisions .

The immigrants would move to a county for two reasons : because the local economy is strong, or because there is a network of immigrants already exists in that location. The basic strategy of this research is to analyze the impact of immigrants who opt for the latter reason , and not the first . A statistical technique known as instrumental variable analysis to execute the strategy used .

Question. The average American home is bigger than it used to be . Does the research is saying that both houses and the immigrant population has grown over time ?

Response . The study explains the main features of the homes : when the houses were built and are single-family homes or apartments ? It also controls the key indicators of housing market : vacancy rates , average prices ten years ago , and the large number of units in a county.

The study also includes statistical controls to account for all permanent features of a county, such as the shortage of building land , and all economic and housing trends nationwide .

Question. Are the results were skewed by the housing bubble and the population explosion ?

Response . The results are based on a study of the entire period between 1970 and 2010 , of which the housing bubble burst and are a small part . Moreover , the study no data on housing prices in the period between 2001 and early 2006, which was the sharpest property inflation period.