Thursday, July 28, 2016

First-Time Homebuyer Watch: 2nd Quarter 2016

Homeownership rate of householders aged 30 to 34, second quarter 2016: 44.8%

The homeownership rate of households headed by people aged 30 to 34 fell to a new low in the second quarter of 2016. The 44.8 percent second-quarter homeownership rate was down from 45.7 percent in the first quarter of 2016 and well below the previous all-time low of 45.2 percent in the second quarter of 2015. The homeownership rate of the 30-to-34 age group had been fairly stable since hitting bottom in 2015. This new low could be a statistical bobble or a resumption of the downward trend.    

Historically, homeownership became the norm in the 30-to-34 age group—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. It's been stuck there ever since. The new age of first-time home buying is 35 to 39, but even this age group has been slipping toward the 50-percent threshold. In the second quarter of 2016 the homeownership rate of 35-to-39-year-olds was 55.2 percent, barely above the all-time low of 55.1 percent recorded in the second quarter of 2015. The homeownership rate of 35-to-39-year-olds peaked in the first quarter of 2007 at 65.7 percent.

Nationally, the homeownership rate was 62.9 percent in the second quarter of 2016, down from 63.4 percent a year earlier and the lowest homeownership rate since 1965.

Source: Census Bureau, Housing Vacancy Survey

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