First-Time Homebuyer Watch: 3rd Quarter 2011

Homeownership rate of householders aged 30 to 34, third quarter 2011: 49.9%

The homeownership rate of householders aged 30 to 34 remains below 50 percent. It fell below the 50 percent threshold in the second quarter of 2011 (to 49.5 percent), and the third quarter rate is only sightly above that all-time low. Typically, the majority of householders become homeowners in their early thirties. That may no longer be the case as young adults either can't afford or do not want to buy a home until the housing market bottoms out and job security improves.

Before the 2011 decline, the quarterly homeownership rate of 30-to-34-year-olds had fallen below 50 percent only one other time--the 2nd quarter of 1994, when 49.6 percent of 30-to-34-year-olds owned a home. The figure peaked at 58.0 percent in the 4th quarter of 2004.

Source: Bureau of the Census, Housing Vacancy Survey