What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to understand how Asian immigration influences U.S. housing prices and the related mechanisms.

April 4, 2026Journal of Urban Economics0 citationsOpen Access

Asian immigrants, school quality, and the U.S. housing market

AAAmanda AngAalto University EKEunjee KwonUniversity of Cincinnati SZSiqi ZhengIIT@MIT

Key Points

This research aims to understand how Asian immigration influences U.S. housing prices and the related mechanisms.
Analyzed annual county-level data from 2009 to 2018
Employed a dual instrumental variable approach
Decomposed housing price impacts into education-related and non-education channels
30%-40% of housing price increases are linked to improved educational amenities
60%-70% of increases attributed to non-education factors
Greater effects seen in counties with a higher percentage of Asian school-aged children

Abstract

This paper investigates how Asian immigrants affect U.S. housing prices and identifies the mechanisms underlying these effects. Using annual county-level data from 2009 to 2018 and a dual instrumental variable approach, we decompose the overall impact of Asian immigrants into education-related and non-education channels. We find that roughly 30%–40% of the housing price increase associated with Asian immigration is driven by the capitalization of improved educational amenities, while the remaining 60%–70% reflects non-education forces, such as home-biased foreign capital inflows and other neighborhood changes. The education-related capitalization effects are greater in counties with a higher share of Asian school-aged children, underscoring the key insight that immigrant composition — specifically, who arrives — matters for how immigration shapes local housing markets.

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