Asian Americans: Hardest Hit by Home Foreclosures

Asian Americans experienced the deepest decline in home ownership, according to a recent U.S. Census report based on 2008 data.  This finding would at first come as a surprise given that Asian Americans typically have higher income and lower debt compared to other minority groups.  However, as Alex Veiga appropriately inferred in his recent column in the Washington Post¹, this may have more to do with the fact that one in three Asian Americans reside in California, one of the states hardest hit with property value declines and high foreclosure rates.

¹Alex Veiga for The Associated Press, “Homeownership fell in '08; Asians hit worst”, Washington Post, Sept. 21, 2009