Homeownership Rates Trending Upwards

Washington, DC, March 11, 2019-The prediction that America would eventually become a nation of renters is not proving true, according to a Washington Post article by Andrew Van Dam entitled, “It turns out Americans weren’t ready to become a nation of renters. Homeownership is back in.”

“New data indicate that in 2016, in defiance of myriad prognostications, the decade-long decline in the homeownership rate abruptly reversed. Once-rapid growth in renter households stalled, and the long-stagnant number of owner-led households began rising.

“The most recent Housing Vacancies and Homeownership survey shows homeownership rates rose from a low of 63% in the second quarter of 2016 to 64.6 in the fourth quarter of 2018, adjusted for seasonality. This move reflects changes in the status of millions of households. The homeownership rate has regained all the ground it lost since 2014.

“While the change in homeownership since 2016 is statistically significant, the figures can be volatile and subject to revision. The first year of the trend has been confirmed by the Census Bureau’s most recent American Community Survey. The ACS takes some time to release but, because it is sent to 3.5 million households, provides the most accurate such data available outside of the decennial Census.”