Homeownership Rates Have Increased, Despite PricesBy RISMedia Staff
Home prices have been the bane of the real estate news cycle for a while now, bringing a damper on the home-buying market. However, recent data shows that home prices really might not have kept buyers out as much as was thought.
A new report from LendingTree found that from 2012 to 2022 homeownership rates have increased 108 basis points in the nation’s 50 largest metros. To get more specific from 2019 to 2022 alone homeownership rates increased by 93 basis points. As of 2022, LendingTree’s report found that almost 43.5 million of the 70.4 million occupied housing units in the nation’s 50 largest metros were owner-occupied. The overall homeownership rate across these metros is 61.72%. Key highlights:
“As our study shows, homeownership rates have increased in the majority of the nation’s largest metros relative to 2019 and 2012. This is despite the fact that home values in these metros are rising considerably,” commented Jacob Channel, LendingTree’s senior economist and author of the report. Channel continued, “While these higher homeownership rates indicate opportunities for people to purchase property even when home values are rising, it doesn’t mean homebuying is without challenges, or that it’s going to be an achievable goal for everyone. On the contrary, a combination of steep home prices and persistently high mortgage rates have made buying difficult for many in recent years. This is evidenced by the fact that, since the start of 2023, mortgage demand has stayed at or near its lowest levels in decades.” “That said, there are nonetheless millions of homeowners in the U.S., and people are still purchasing new homes. Even groups who typically have less money at their disposal, like millennials and first-time homebuyers, are receiving mortgage offers,” concluded Channel. “While today’s housing market isn’t necessarily easy to navigate, that doesn’t mean homeownership is a vanishing concept or that the U.S. is poised to become a nation of primarily renters anytime soon.” For the full report, click here. |
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