Housing Inequality in the United States: Explaining the White-Minority Disparities in Homeownership |
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Authors: | Sanjaya DeSilva Yuval Elmelech |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Economics , and Levy Economics Institute, Bard College , Annandale on Hudson, NY, USA;2. Department of Sociology , and Levy Economics Institute, Bard College , Annandale on Hudson, NY, USA |
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Abstract: | As the homeownership rate in the United States reached its highest ever level in 2004, the distribution of homeownership remained uneven along racial and ethnic lines. Using data from the 2005–2007 3-Year Sample of the American Community Survey (ACS), this paper employs a multivariate regression model and a decomposition technique to delineate the socio-economic and demographic characteristics as well as the immigration and spatial patterns that shape racial and ethnic inequality in homeownership. The findings reveal three distinct patterns; the Asian-white homeownership gap is explained entirely by differences in immigration and spatial patterns of residence, whereas the disadvantage of blacks and Puerto Ricans is attributable to demographic, socio-economic and unobserved factors. For Mexicans and other Hispanics, all four sources influence homeownership patterns, with socio-economic factors relatively important for Mexicans and spatial variables relatively important for other Hispanics. |
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Keywords: | Homeownership race ethnicity immigration |
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