The Decline of the Immigrant Homeownership Advantage: Life-Cycle, Declining Fortunes and Changing Housing Careers in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, 1981-2001

Michael Haan, University of Toronto

In the past, working-age immigrant families in Canada’s large urban centers had higher homeownership rates than the Canadian-born. Over the past twenty years however, this advantage has reversed, due jointly to a drop in immigrant rates and a rise in the popularity of homeownership among the Canadian-born. In this study I assess the efficacy of standard consumer choice models, which include indicators for age, income, education, family type, plus several immigrant characteristics, to explain these changes. I find that the standard model almost completely explains the immigrant homeownership advantage in 1981, as well as the rise over time among the Canadian-born. In contrast, even after accounting for the well-known decline in immigrant economic fortunes, only about 1/3 of the 1981-2001 immigrant change in homeownership rates is explained. I discuss some of the implications of this inability and make several suggestions for further research.