American Dream Goes Global

Boston Globe (07/07/08); Sacchetti, Maria
As the housing slump and foreclosure crisis depresses the homeownership outlook for U.S. immigrants, private lenders, property developers and national governments are turning up new strategies to help this demographic to purchase homes in their native lands. "It's something that's growing. There's a huge untapped market," according to Romi Bhatia of Washington-based Microfinance International Corp., which expects this month to begin offering home loans to Mexican immigrants in the United States. While tens of thousands of American immigrants invest each year in some kind of residential project in their home countries, Manuel Orozco of the Inter-American Dialogue notes that many do not qualify for mortgages there because they reside in the states; while those that are eligible typically pay exorbitant rates.