The Sources of Differentiation in the Immigrant Housing Market: Insights from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada

Michael Haan, University of Alberta

This paper identifies some of the reasons behind differences in the homeownership levels of seven recently-arrived immigrant visible minority groups in Canada. It uses discrete-time event history analysis models, bootstrap sampling, and three waves of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC) to model the homeownership status of the October 2000-September 2001 arrival cohort in their first four years after arrival to Canada. Given the richness of LSIC data, it is possible to determine if differentiation among recent arrivals in the housing market occurs because of 1) credit constraints (including entry wealth, interest rates, and perceptions of discrimination), 2) class of entry, 3) credential recognition, and/or 4) city choice. These factors are shown to be important factors for explaining differences between Arab, Black, Latin American, and White immigrants in their first four years. The implications of these results for both Canada and other countries are discussed.