Ethnic diversity and homeownership

Abstract

We examine the impact of neighbourhood ethnic diversity on homeownership using 19 waves of household panel data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey. We find that ethnic diversity is associated with a lower probability of homeownership. Specifically, a movement from complete ethnic homogeneity to complete heterogeneity is associated with up to a 31.3 percentage point decrease in the probability of homeownership. Our results also show that trust, neighbourhood satisfaction and belongingness, which are lower in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods, are important channels through which ethnic diversity operates to reduce the probability of homeownership. We suggest policies to promote trust in multicultural societies with high levels of ethnic diversity with a view to addressing the negative relationship between ethnic diversity and homeownership.