Home ownership Rate Rebounds from 50-Year Low
The U.S. home ownership rate may have finally bottomed out, as the share of Americans who own homes is steadily climbing. The ownership rate posted an increase in the second quarter, reversing a sharp downward trend that begun in the Great Recession.
The home ownership rate was 63.7 percent in the second quarter, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday. That marks nearly a full percentage point increase from a year ago.
Last year, the home ownership rate had plunged to a 50-year low of 62.9 percent.
“The addition of 1.2 million households being homeowners is clearly good news, as more households are participating in housing equity gains,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS®. “But let’s keep it in perspective: There are fewer homeowners today compared to a decade ago, while renter households have risen by 8 million. So it is still the case that the massive $7 trillion in housing wealth gains from the cyclical low point has been accumulated by a fewer number of families in America. Further advances in home ownership are required to strengthen and broaden the middle class.”
Source: “Home ownership Rate Jumps From 50-Year Low,” The Wall Street Journal (July 27, 2017) and National Association of REALTORS®