Homeownership hit a level unseen since the Great Recession, according to new U.S. Census data, with the share of American households owning homes reaching 67.9% during the second quarter.
That’s up from 64.1% in the same quarter last year and up from 65.3% in the first three months of the year, attaining the highest homeownership rate since the third quarter of 2008. Prior to that, homeownership hovered above 69% for a large part of 2004, before heading into a long, steady descent that finally culminated in a trough during mid-2016.
The favorable interest rate environment has helped, enticing many would-be home buyers to make purchasing moves despite the pandemic apparently holding several others back from taking the plunge. Part of the increase may also be attributed to a change in data collection methodology brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic; with the risk of coronavirus infection high, door-to-door in-person interviews were suspended for the duration of the second quarter, replaced with telephone interview attempts when contact information was available.
Join 210,000 mortgage professionals
Get the news, trends and industry updates in your inbox to become a better mortgage originator. Subscribe to emails below.
The homeownership increase was broad-based, seen across households of diverse age groups, incomes, ethnicities and races. Black homeownership climbed quarterly from 44.0% to 47.0%, the highest homeownership rate for African Americans since 2008. It’s a sharp turnaround from just four quarters ago, when the homeownership rate for Black households, at 40.6%, was the lowest on record.
The Hispanic demographic, too, saw homeownership grow 2.5 percentage points quarterly and 4.8 percentage points yearly to reach 51.4%, the highest level since 1994.
Geographically, homeownership rate rose the most in the South, climbing 3.5 percentage points quarterly and 5.1 percentage points annually to reach 71.1%. The Midwest had the highest homeownership rate among all regions at 71.4%, up 2.2 percentage points from the first quarter and 3.4 percentage points from the second quarter of 2019. The Northeast’s homeownership rate was 63.3%, up 0.9 points quarterly and 1.1 points yearly, while the West had a homeownership rate of 62.6%, up 2.5 points quarterly and 3.3 points annually.
The national vacancy rate during the second quarter was 0.9%, down from 1.1% in the first quarter and 1.3% in the second quarter of 2019.
