Immigration Policy Could Boost Housing Market

Cambridge, MA, Jan. 8, 2015 -- President Obama’s executive action on immigration could provide a significant impetus to the housing market, according to George Masnick, a senior research fellow at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies.

"Immigrants have historically been an important part of housing markets, especially for the past two decades," Masnick wrote in a paper that is available on the center's website.

He noted that immigrants have accounted for about one third of net new household formations since 1994.

"For households under age 45, the foreign born have accounted for virtually all household growth over this period, as the aging of Generation X led to a decline in native born households in this age range." However, native born adults account for nearly all the growth above age 45, he said.