The homeownership rate in America hit a 20-year low, dropping to 64% in the fourth quarter of 2014. This was 1.2 percentage points (+/-0.4) lower than the fourth quarter 2013 rate (65.2%) and 0.4 percentage points (+/-0.4) lower than the rate last quarter (64.4%). The rental vacancy rate of 7% was 1.2 percentage points (+/-0.4) lower than the rate in the fourth quarter 2013 and 0.4 percentage points (+/-0.3) lower than the rate last quarter. The homeowner vacancy rate of 1.9% was 0.2 percentage points (+/-0.2) lower than the rate in the fourth quarter 2013 and 0.1 percentage point higher (+/-0.1)* than the rate last quarter. The homeownership rate of 64% was 1.2 percentage points (+/-0.4) lower than the fourth quarter 2013 rate (65.2%) and 0.4 percentage points (+/-0.4) lower than the rate last quarter (64.4%). Paul Diggle, property economist for Capital Economics said that the decade-long decline in the share of the population who own their home may now be drawing to an end. “Yet the long decline in the homeownership rate may finally be drawing to a close,” he says. “After all, mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates have fallen back to long-run norms, credit conditions are showing signs of loosening and wage growth may soon accelerate, helping young households to make the leap into homeownership. Source: HousingWire
