Home ownership is at the lowest rate since the 4th quarter of 1995. The Census released their quarterly housing vacancies and home ownership report. The seasonally adjusted homeownership rate is 65.1%. Many in the press tried to claim homeownership is increasing by quoting the not seasonally adjusted home ownership rate of 65.3%, which gives an uptick in people owning homes in America from the 2nd quarter of 2013. The reality is, not so. The great ownership society went bankrupt.
The Census Bureau released the Q4 home ownership, rental and vacancy rates for Q1 2012. Home ownership dropped 1.0% from Q1 2011 to 65.4%, a 0.6% drop from last quarter. This is the lowest home ownership rate since the end of 1996 and the first quarter of 1997.
Home ownership dropped -0.7% to 66.5% from a year ago and dropped -0.4% from Q3 2010. Below shows the great home ownership bubble and it's clear decline with ownership rates at Q4 1998 levels.
More than 14 million housing units are vacant. That number does not include an estimated 4.8 million seasonal or vacation homes, most of which are occupied part of the year. The combined vacancy rate of almost 15% is higher than during previous recessions: 11% in 1991 and 9.4% in 1984.
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