According to the U.S. Census, homeownership rate in the U.S. reached its all- time low since 1967 as it dove down from 64.7 percent in the second quarter of 2014 to 63.4 percent in the second quarter this year. This difference is quite substantial especially if compared to 2004's 69.2 percent when real estate market was booming.
Peter Boockvar, an analyst of The Lindsey Group said "It is now just five-tenths from the record low seen in 1965 in data going back also to 1965. All the governmental attempts (certainly aided and abetted by many players in the private sector) at boosting homeownership has gotten us to this point in time with all the havoc it wreaked over the past 10 years. It's just another governmental lesson never learned, of don't mess with the free market and human nature."
Though a lot of Americans are occupying housing units, most of them are renting which made the owner- occupied units' percentage dropped within a year. This scenario made renting and occupancies have higher percentage than being a homeowner.
According to Tim Naughton, chairman and CEO of AvalonBay, "our results for the second quarter and year to date exceeded our original outlook. For the balance of the year, we expect accelerating apartment demand to support stronger performance across our business."
Due to much lower cost, multifamily opted in renting apartments which made the rate to go higher up to 55% from June 2014 to June this year. Despite of this necessity, supply and demand for apartments for rent are still not enough for the number of total renters in the U.S.
Home sales are also not in good shape as home prices are continuing to increase while tight lending standards are being implemented in lending companies. Due to this, home market tend to lose opportunity and prospect buyers are getting discouraged who are mostly first- time home buyers.
