The Role of Occupational Achievement in Homeownership Attainment by Immigrants and Native Borns in Five Metropolitan Areas

This article addresses the homeownership attainment of immigrants and native borns in five metropolitan areas: Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and Philadelphia. The major question for analysis is the role of occupational achievement in shaping the attainment of homeownership for specific cohorts between 1980 and 1990. This effect is estimated in addition to that of human capital endowments, life cycle maturation, lengthening duration of U.S. residence, and earnings. The authors find that occupational achievement makes a significant contribution to homeownership attainment, net of other factors, and that this effect is remarkably consistent across metropolitan areas, immigrant groups, and birth cohorts. The analysis also unveils substantial differences in ownership trends between metropolitan regions. Although immigrant groups attain lower levels of homeownership than non-Hispanic whites who are native born, the rate of progress toward homeownership for immigrants generally parallels that for young whites in the same metropolitan area.