The Role of Ethnic Real Estate Agents in the Residential Relocation Process: A Case Study of Portuguese Homebuyers in Suburban Toronto

Abstract

This paper examines the search behavior of a sample of Portuguese and Canadianborn homebuyers in suburban Toronto, Canada. Attention is focused on the extent to which Portuguese homebuyers rely upon real estate agents from the same ethnic background and how this source can influence the homebuyer's housing search and ultimate choice of a residence. Data were obtained from a questionnaire survey that was administered to a sample of 110 Portuguese and 90 Canadian-born recent homebuyers in the city of Mississauga, a western suburb of Toronto. All were nonresidents of Mississauga at the time of purchasing the house. The evidence indicates that Portuguese homebuyers differ significantly from the Canadian-born in their housing search by relying more extensively on ethnic sources of information, particularly real estate agents from the same ethnic background. However, almost equal numbers of Portuguese purchased houses in Portuguese and non-Portuguese neighborhoods in Mississauga. In this respect, the evidence suggests that Portuguese realtors play a more limited role in reinforcing existing spatial patterns of Portuguese settlement in Mississauga.Many homebuyers purchase houses infrequently and lack experience and knowledge about the homebuying process. As a result, the task of looking for and gathering information about residential vacancies can be stressful, costly, and time-consuming, especially in complex and heterogeneous metropolitan housing markets. The gathering of information about housing vacancies, and the search itself, also can be more complex and difficult for certain groups. Visible minorities and recent immigrants, for example, may be in a disad-497 498 TEIXEIRA AND MURDIE vantaged position when searching for and evaluating alternatives because of discrimination, language barriers, and lack of familiarity with the intricacies of local housing markets. Consequently, home seekers often look for information and advice from experts or specialists to help identify and evaluate housing alternatives.Potential homebuyers can obtain information about housing vacancies from a wide variety of sources. These range from market sources such as newspapers and real estate agents to more-specialized community-oriented sources such as friends, relatives, and real estate agents from the same ethnic background (e.g., Brown and Moore, 1970;Barrett, 1973;Rossi, 1980;Margulis, 1988;Sarre et al, 1989). The amount, quality, and biases of housing information provided by these sources can vary from one source to another and may ultimately determine the efficiency of the search strategy and the final outcome of the relocation process. Thus, differentials in search behavior, including access to different types of racially and ethnically biased information, can be a key factor in maintaining racial and ethnic segregation in housing.Of the sources noted above, real estate agents are one of the most important channels of information in the housing-search process. The study of the influence of real estate agents on household relocation...

Social capital and economic outcomes for immigrants and ethnic minorities

“…For example, Chan and Cheung (1985), in their study of Chinese businesses in Toronto, found that Chinese business owners benefited from certain collective resources of the community such as group solidarity, ethnic customers, and ethnic labour, although individual resources were also important. In the Portuguese community in Toronto, several studies found that community resources such as local networks and ties largely contributed to the formation, maintenance, and success of Portuguese-owned real estate businesses (Teixeira, 1998;Teixeira A Murdie, 1997). Marger and Hoffman (1992) studied ethnic businesses in Ontario and found that the success of the Hong Kong entrepreneurs was aided by the rapid growth of the Chinese population and the corresponding consumer market, and by adopting a business strategy to target labourintensive businesses that made use of a network of ethnic institutions.…”

Little Portugal and the Changing Spatial Structure of the Portuguese Community in Toronto

“…This ambivalent phenomenon illustrates the weakening Portuguese ties to Little Portugal. In addition, as Teixeira and Murdie (1997) As mentioned, the Portuguese in Toronto now occupy three residential domains: Little Portugal (their declining traditional core), the northern corridor, and the western suburbs, the latter two of which have been expanding since the 1980s.…”

“…Since the 1990s, studies of the Portuguese in Toronto have increased, thanks to Teixeira and his colleagues (Teixeira 1993(Teixeira , 1998(Teixeira , 2006a(Teixeira , 2006b(Teixeira , 2007(Teixeira , 2009Teixeira and Murdie 1997;Teixeira et al 2007;Teixeira and Da Rosa 2009;Murdie and Teixeira 2011). However, there is no scholarly reference to the overall spatial structure of the Portuguese community, and the transformation process of Little Portugal has yet to be examined in detail.…”

Ethnicity and Homeownership in Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver: Measuring Effects of the Spatial Distribution of Ethnic Groups Using Multilevel Modeling in 1996 and 2001

“…In this context, poverty and immigration are two distinct phenomena with a slight overlap Smith 1997, 2000). Moreover, some studies note that the spatial concentration of certain immigrants and minority group members may lead to the creation of a collective resource, designated by the term "ethnic capital", which strengthens the capacity for certain immigrants or minority group members to access homeownership by fostering their institutional organization or their control over specific segments of the housing market (Breton 1964;Haan 2005;Leloup 2007;Teixeira and Murdie 1997). In brief, spatial concentration or other dimensions of residential segregation cannot be systematically associated with poor housing conditions and urban deprivation.…”