Neighborhood Diversity and the Appreciation of Native- and Immigrant- Owned Homes

40 Pages Posted: 24 Oct 2009

See all articles by Deborah A. Cobb-Clark

Deborah A. Cobb-Clark

School of Economics, University of Sydney; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Mathias Sinning

Australian National University (ANU) - Crawford School of Public Policy

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: September 1, 2009

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of neighborhood diversity on the nativity gap in home value appreciation in Australia. Specifically, immigrant homeowners experienced a 41.7 percent increase in median home values between 2001 and 2006, while the median value of housing owned by the native-born increased by 59.4 percent over the same period. We use a semi-parametric decomposition approach to assess the relative importance of the various determinants of home values in producing this gap. We find that the differential returns to housing wealth are not related to changes in the nature of the houses or the neighborhoods in which immigrants and native-born homeowners live. Rather, the gap stems from the fact that over time there were differential changes across groups in the hedonic prices (i.e., returns) associated with the underlying determinants of home values.

Keywords: International migration, home-ownership, decomposition analysis

JEL Classification: F22, D31

Suggested Citation

Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. and Sinning, Mathias, Neighborhood Diversity and the Appreciation of Native- and Immigrant- Owned Homes (September 1, 2009). Ruhr Economic Paper No. 137, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1493186 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1493186

Deborah A. Cobb-Clark

School of Economics, University of Sydney ( email )

606 Social Sciences Bldg. (A02)
The University of Sydney
Sydney, NSW 2006
Australia
61435061387 (Phone)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Mathias Sinning (Contact Author)

Australian National University (ANU) - Crawford School of Public Policy ( email )

ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
J.G. Crawford Building, #132, Lennox Crossing
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200
Australia

HOME PAGE: http://www.mathiassinning.com

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
44
Abstract Views
710
PlumX Metrics