Tuesday, July 29, 2014

First-Time Homebuyer Watch: 2nd Quarter, 2014

Homeownership rate of householders aged 30 to 34, second quarter 2014: 46.5%

The homeownership rate of householders aged 30 to 34 has fallen to a record low. The 46.5 percent rate recorded for this age group in the second quarter of 2014 was a full 1.0 percentage points below their rate in the first quarter of 2014 and 1.9 percentage points below their rate one year ago. 

Householders aged 30 to 34 were once the nation's first-time homebuyers. Historically, this was the age group in which homeownership became the norm—rising above 50 percent. But 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. The downward slide continues.


The only good news for the housing industry in the Census Bureau's latest release is the stability in the homeownership rate of householders aged 35 to 39—the new age of first-time home buying. The homeownership rate of 35-to-39-year-olds climbed slightly in the second quarter of 2014 to 56.7 percent, up from 56.5 percent in the first quarter. The rate for this age group bottomed out at 55.3 percent in the first quarter of 2013 and has climbed slowly in most quarters since then. But the homeownership rate of 35-to-39-year-olds in the second quarter of 2014 is more than 10 percentage points below their peak of 67.4 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2005.

Nationally, the homeownership rate slipped to 64.7 percent in the second quarter of 2014, down from 65.0 percent one year ago.

Source: Census Bureau, Housing Vacancy Survey

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