Immigrants boosting US housing sales

[BOSTON] After decades of factory shutdowns and population loss, the city of Dayton, Ohio, has found a fix for its housing market hard-hit by foreclosures - immigration.

The rust-belt city of 140,000 has been encouraging immigrants from Mexico, Nigeria and Turkey to move there since 2011, after its population hit a 90-year low, by offering to help with resettlement and starting businesses. Dayton's foreign population grew and so did its housing sales, rising last year at almost twice the national rate.

As the housing recovery nationwide sputters, the story of Dayton reveals a reason why: The US market is missing the sales jolt provided by immigration. Last year, the number of immigrants granted US residency - typically a requirement to get a mortgage - hit a nine-year low, according to government data. Immigrants, deterred by a weak American labour market since 2008, aren't likely to get encouragement from Congress, where support for a reform bill has mostly evaporated.