Twelve percent of Chinese Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area are planning to purchase a home and 21 percent plan to buy or lease a new car in the next year, according to a new survey.

The findings are part of an annual report by KTSF-TV, San Francisco, that provides a snapshot of the Chinese-American community's purchasing, language and political preferences.

KTSF has commissioned such studies on a yearly basis since 1986.

An overwhelming majority of respondents chose to be interviewed in Chinese, even though the average residency in the United States for the group was 13 years.

The preferred news source among this group is TV (72 percent), followed by newspapers (48 percent), radio (28 percent) and Internet (16 percent). Multiple responses were allowed.

Bank of America had the largest share of Chinese bank customers with 41percent of the market, followed by Wells Fargo at 14 percent and Washington Mutual at 12 percent. United Savings and American Savings each have more than 5 percent of the market share.

"Over our past 16 years of conducting consumer research in the Asian market several patterns have become clear," said Michael J. Sherman, general manager at KTSF-TV. "This most recent study confirms that Asian consumers continue to be brand loyal and respond to messages in their own language. We also saw that, just like consumers everywhere, this group places a high value on quality, convenience and value."

Computer ownership was high, with 82 percent of Chinese households having a computer; Hewlett Packard, Compaq, and Dell were the leading brands. Chinese-American Internet usage rose to 68 percent this year, up two percent from the 2000 study.

At 62 percent, Costco is the most often frequented discount store for Chinese-American consumers.

The survey also found that more than a third of households visited Las Vegas in the past year. MGM Grand, Circus Circus, Hilton, and Bellagio were the most popular hotels among Chinese Americans.

The survey randomly sampled 612 Chinese Americans between March and April, 2002.

KTSF-TV is the nation's oldest Asian-language broadcast station, offering news and entertainment programs in 12 languages since 1976.