In today’s society and the events happening around the world, some people have started viewing immigrants as a problem facing western societies. While some tend to focus on the negatives of having an influx of immigrants coming in, we decided to look at one of the positive aspects of immigration to the United States. The increasing number of immigrants throughout the United States has boosted the real estate market nationwide.
Immigrants arrive to a new country with high hopes and with a working attitude to succeed and build a better life for them. Some of these immigrants even come to the US with a hefty savings balance, which prompts them to invest it primarily in real estate properties.
Benefits of Immigration on the Real Estate Market
A new research by the Urban Land Institute looked in detail at the effects of immigration on the US real estate market. The findings of the research give a lot of merit to immigration for not only boosting the real estate market, but also in lifting it out of the recession of 2008. These report findings include:
- Most immigrants have aspirations to own single-family homes. The longer these immigrants reside in the US and become part of its culture, the more convinced they become of the need to own property. This will lead to immigrants becoming a force in driving the housing market upwards.
- Many immigrants move to suburban areas searching for jobs due to the lack of employment opportunities in major cities. This results in boosting the real estate market in different areas around the US. Immigrants mostly move to suburbs to find jobs and cheaper houses.
- US immigration policy is a key factor in the continued success of the US real estate market. Changes in US policy against immigration would result in a much slower growth of the urban and suburban areas across the US.
- Immigration in cities like San Francisco and Buffalo has helped lift these areas from the disasters of the 2008 recession. Immigrants looking to invest their money in the housing market have shortened the time frame for the recovery of those areas from the recession.
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- The report suggests that suburban areas that are growing due to immigration should consider plans for municipality growth. While this might be challenging for rapidly growing areas, it comes as a welcomed challenge that will push the economy forward.
Immigration provides a new dimension to the US housing market. While most Americans aspire to leave the suburbs to find better paying jobs in the bigger urban regions; a significant number of immigrants are moving the to the suburbs. Logically speaking, this makes immigration the balancing factor in the US workforce movement.
The Trump Administration and Immigration
The boost in the real estate through immigration is likely to witness a noticeable decrease in growth. The 2016 US Presidential Elections saw Donald Trump and his anti-immigration rules rise to power. Trump’s travel ban and crackdown on the Mexican border issue have made many immigrants in the US reconsider or give up their plans to become homeowners.
Related: How Donald Trump’s Presidency Will Affect Real Estate Investing
The ban basically creates a sense of uncertainty for the future for immigrants or asylum seekers to the US. This uncertainty has reportedly made many immigrants to back out of home purchases. As reported by Bloomberg, an Indian worker in San Francisco canceled his plans to bid on a $900,000 home because of fear of deportation. The effect of the proposed immigration has not only affected communities of which the ban includes; but it has also echoed to most communities who feel they could be the next target of Trump’s immigration policies. Workers in the US seeking citizenship or a long-term stay are even going through drastic measures of making back-up plans in case they get deported. One back-up plan mentioned by Bloomberg is how a female worker is making arrangements for other family members to pay her mortgage if she gets deported.
The immigration ban proposed by Trump has come at a time when the US real estate market was growing effectively. However, a large segment of the United States society feels threatened. Immigrants are not sure if they would last 6 months or 10 years in the US with the current political situation in the US. A dark cloud of uncertainty has been cast over the future of the growth of the US real estate market.
Related: Real Estate Investing Under the Trump Administration
Conclusion
Immigration is one of the backbones that shape the growth of the housing market across the US. Despite what most anti-immigrant officials or politicians would claim, immigration has been helping the US economy rather than damaging it. The US has always been the land of opportunity. Immigrants go there to build their futures and to find stability in a decent life. Home-ownership is one of the main pillars of stability for these immigrants. The Senate and Congress have a task on their hand to overturn Trump’s proposed ban on immigration to ensure the continued growth of real estate.