Vietnamese immigrants become home-buying force

SEATTLE – For residents in two western Washington counties, a bit of neighborly competition may now mean keeping up with the Nguyens.

The Vietnamese surname supplanted Johnson last year as the most common family moniker for home buyers in King and Snohomish counties. Nguyen also was leading all other names through the first four months of 2005.

Another Vietnamese name, Tran, ranked eighth in statistics compiled by First American Real Estate Solutions, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Friday.

Experts say the trend reflects a willingness among many Asian families to combine their resources and lend to relatives for major purchases.

“In Asian cultures, there is a set of expectations about what it means to be a family and how to fulfill your role of being part of family,” said Paul Ong, an Asian-American studies professor at the University of California-Los Angeles.

Figures from the 2000 Census show the number of Vietnamese residents in King and Snohomish increased by 160 percent in 10 years, making that population the second-fastest-growing ethnic group behind Asian Indians.

Vietnamese total about 1.3 percent of the overall population of King and Snohomish counties.

Helen Nguyen and her husband, Trung Tran, relied on family to help purchase their first home soon after they emigrated from Vietnam more than 15 years ago.

Last fall, the family of nine moved into their third home, a 2,700-square-foot house in Newcastle.

An increasing number of Asian immigrants have now been in the United States long enough to accumulate the financial clout to purchase homes, Ong said.