WASHINGTON (TIP): Indian-Americansmay have the distinction of being thehighest-per capita income group amongethnic communities but they lag far behindtheir European counterparts when it comesto owning a house in the US.According to the ‘HomeownershipAmong the Foreign-Born Population: 2011’,released by the Census Bureau, 55 per centof the Indian-Americans own a house oftheir own while 45 live in rentedaccommodation.Foreign-born owned households with ahouseholder from Europe were the mostlikely to be owned free and clear (40 percent), while foreign-born owned householdswith a householder from Africa were theleast likely to be owned free and clear (14per cent), it said.

Of the 20 country-of-birth groups withthe largest number of foreign-bornhouseholds in the US, several countriesfrom Europe along with Canada had thehighest homeownership rates.Over 70 per cent of foreign-bornhouseholds with a householder fromCanada (71 per cent), Germany (72 percent), Italy (79 per cent), and the UnitedKingdom (73 per cent) were owneroccupied.By comparison, less than one-third of theforeign-born households with ahouseholder born in the DominicanRepublic (25 per cent), Guatemala (30 percent), and Honduras (31 per cent), wereowner occupied. Italy and Germany werealso among the country-of-birth groupswith the highest percentage of ownedhomes that were owned free and clear.About half of foreign-born householdsthat were owned and had householdersfrom Italy and Germany owned their homesfree and clear (55 per cent and 51 per cent,respectively).

“Homeownership is a goal shared bymany residents of the United States, bothnative- and foreign-born, citizen andnoncitizen,” said Elizabeth Grieco, chief ofthe Foreign-Born Population Branch at theCensus Bureau.”For immigrants in particular – whomaintain nearly one in seven households inthe US – making the transition from renterto homeowner represents a significantinvestment in the United States,” Griecosaid. This report found that foreign-bornnaturalized citizens were more likely to owntheir homes than foreign-born noncitizens.In naturalized citizen households, 66 percent were owner-occupied.

That compareswith 34 per cent of noncitizen households.Rates of homeownership among foreignbornhouseholds also increased with timespent in the United States. Among foreignbornhouseholds with a householder whoentered the US before 1980, nearly threefourthswere owned rather than rented.Among households headed by someonewho entered the US since 2000, only onefourthwere owned.According to the brief, just 10metropolitan statistical areas accounted forabout half the nation’s foreign-bornhouseholds in 2011, led by New York andLos Angeles, each of which had more thanone million foreign-born households.Rounding out the top five were Miami,Chicago and Houston. Nearly half, or about45 per cent, of the metropolitan areas in theNortheast, particularly in New York andPennsylvania, exceeded the nationalhomeownership average for foreign-bornhouseholds of 52 per cent.