Asians most active buyers in last 10 years Homeownership rates fell in the region’s inner suburbs over the last decade, a downward shift largely driven by white and black households, new Census Bureau data show.
Meanwhile, Asians were the most active home purchasers in the region over the last 10 years, increasing their homeownership rates by double digits in the District, Alexandria and in Prince William County and by single digits elsewhere. As a group, they represented the largest swing toward homeownership in every local jurisdiction except Prince George’s County, where the rapidly growing Hispanic population was the most active group in the last decade.
Homeownership rates in Montgomery, Fairfax and Loudoun counties slipped by more than 1 percent over the last decade, and rates in Arlington County stayed flat, according to the data. All four jurisdictions recorded drops in homeownership rates among whites and blacks, and Montgomery County recorded an actual decrease in the number of white homeowners.
| Asians, Hispanics take big strides toward homeownership | ||||||||||
| Home ownership rates: | ||||||||||
| Percentage | Percentage | Percentage | Percentage | Percentage | ||||||
| Total | point | point | point | point | point | |||||
| rate | change | Whites | change | Black | change | Asian | change | Hispanic | change | |
| District | 42.0% | +1.3 | 47.6% | +0.4 | 38.8% | +0.0 | 34.6% | +10.1 | 31.5% | +7.3 |
| Montgomery | 67.6% | -1.1 | 75.2% | -0.7 | 43.9% | -0.1 | 71.0% | +4.9 | 54.6% | +2.2 |
| Prince George’s | 62.8% | +1.0 | 73.3% | +1.3 | 60.9% | +2.6 | 65.5% | +6.7 | 49.9% | +10.5 |
| Arlington | 43.3% | +0.0 | 48.2% | -1.5 | 24.0% | -2.3 | 31.9% | +8.0 | 29.1% | +6.2 |
| Fairfax | 69.5% | -1.4 | 75.4% | -0.7 | 45.9% | -1.3 | 67.2% | +3.6 | 49.5% | -2.7 |
| Loudoun | 77.8% | -1.5 | 80.3% | -0.6 | 60.4% | -4.0 | 84% | +3.1 | 56.2 | -12.5 |
| Prince William | 73.2% | -1.5 | 78.9% | 2.9 | 60.6% | +1.8 | 81.9% | +11.3 | 59.4% | -0.5 |
| Alexandria | 43.3% | +3.3 | 53.3% | +3.7 | 20.5% | +0.3 | 37.4% | +12.6 | 25.0% | +4.3 |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau | ||||||||||
Ownership rates increased slightly in D.C. and some suburbs.
Experts said the foreclosure crisis hitting the suburbs combined with more apartment development in those areas contributed to the swing.
“The impact of the recession and the financial services meltdown has [altered] the traditional patterns of home occupancy over the last 10 years,” said Stephen Fuller, director of George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis.
He added that those who move here for jobs tend to be younger and the hesitant attitude toward homeownership is largely among twenty- and thirtysomethings.
“They’re renters instead of owners now because they don’t qualify or they don’t want to take the risk,” he said.
But among the Asian population, the attitude is different, said Thai Hung Nguyen, a board member of the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors.
“We pretty much value homeownership as the starting point of life in a way,” Nguyen said. “I’m originally from Vietnam and we have a saying that the sentiment is, with the home it’s the beginning of a prosperous career.”
Over the decade, Asians surpassed whites in Prince William and Loudoun as the groups with the highest homeownership rate. They showed the biggest shift of any county in Prince William, climbing from a 70 percent ownership rate in 2000 to nearly 82 percent in 2010. In Loudoun, Asians were the only group to show a gain in their homeownership rate.
And it’s not just limited to the suburbs. The District, Arlington and Alexandria represent three of the top four jurisdictions where Asians made their biggest gains in homeownership.
Nguyen said as a real estate agent, he noticed that Asians in particular were taking the opportunity to buy homes at a discount during the housing collapse, particularly in Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington and Prince William counties for their public school systems and jobs.
“Prior to ’07 and ’08, they couldn’t afford it,” Nguyen said. “So when the market turned they started to feel the affordability was a better fit.”
