Friday, January 31, 2014

First-Time Homebuyer Watch: 4th Quarter 2013

Homeownership rate of householders aged 30 to 34, fourth quarter 2013: 48.6%

Finally, some good news. The homeownership rate of householders aged 30 to 34 climbed 1.1 percentage points between the third and fourth quarters of 2013, to 48.6 percent. Although still below 50 percent, the trend is in the right direction. 

The nation's first-time homebuyers have long been 30-to-34-year-olds, the age group in which homeownership becomes the norm—rising above 50 percent. Until the Great Recession, that is. Beginning in 2007, the homeownership rate of 30-to-34-year-olds went into a tailspin. In the second quarter of 2011, the rate fell below 50 percent for the first time. It bottomed out at 46.9 percent in the third quarter of 2012. The recent uptick in the homeownership rate of 30-to-34-year-olds is welcome news for the housing industry.

Nationally, the homeownership rate was 65.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, slightly higher than the 65.2 percent of one year ago.


Source: Census Bureau, Housing Vacancy Survey

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