Immigration Reform Would Boost Value of Homes, Obama Tells Phoenix Crowd

President Obama on Tuesday argued that enactment of the Senate’s immigration reform bill would boost home values across the country.

“It’s pretty simple: when more people buy homes, and play by the rules, home values go up for everybody,” Obama said during a speech on home ownership in Phoenix.

Obama conceded that immigration was “something you don’t always hear about when it comes to the housing market,” but he said the two things go hand in hand.

“According to one recent study, the average homeowner has already seen the value of their home boosted by thousands of dollars, just because of immigration,” the president said.

Cecilia Munoz, the director of the White House Domestic Policy council, tweeted during Obama’s speech that it was a “fact” that immigration reform “will substantially increase home values.”

According to data provided by the White House, immigrants accounted for almost 40 percent of new homeowners between 2000 and 2010. In California, immigrants accounted for more than 80 percent of the growth in homeowners, while in New York, more than two-thirds of new buyers were immigrants.

In Southern states like Georgia and North Carolina, immigrants made up more than a quarter of new homeowners, according to the White House.

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