A report released by the Census Bureau on Tuesday says that the U.S. homeownership rate is at 63.4 percent for the second quarter of the present year. The rate is slightly lower compared to the first quarter which is 63.7 percent and this is the lowest level of homeownership in the country since 1967. If the homeownership rate drops just a littler more tenths of a percentage point, it would mean a new all-time low since the government started monitoring such data in 1965, where the rate was a flat 63 percent.
As a matter of fact, some housing experts say that it is fairly likely that the rate will continue to go lower and will eventually hit a low record in the near future. "We may have another percentage point to go before we see a bottom in terms of the homeownership rate", a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities, Mark Vitner, reported to Bloomberg. He further said that, "We're still suffering the effects of the housing collapse and the financial crisis."
The improving market and an improving jobs scenario would seem to bring with it rising homeownership levels. However, as a recent Harvard study stated, many young would-be homeowners who are in there 20's to 40's are still struggling in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Salaries have been immobile for the middle class, and many households are wary about jumping into homeownership in the while still paying out student loans and being cautious after a recent housing crash. Rising home prices don't encourage ownership either
In this situation, renting seems to be a more sound option for young professionals.
For the purpose of comparing data, the 50-year average for homeownership in the U.S. is 65.3%. The percentage rose through the 1970s and early 1980s, before going to a rate of around 64% or slightly lower in the late 80's and 90's, which is a period of low economic situation that was global and a recession in the U.S. that ran for eight months.
Credit was easy, the economy was rising along with optimism, the homeownership rate rose higher in the late '90s and early '00s, to almost 70%. The 69.2% homeownership rate of 2004 is currently the highest. At the rate which things are going, it appears more likely that such record will still be the highest for the next decade as reported by Fortune.
