June 26, 2019
Where are Homeownership Rates the Highest?
In its April assessment of residential vacancies and homeownership through the first quarter of 2019, the US Census Bureau considered which regions, zoning areas, levels of household income, and age groups were seeing the highest and lowest rates of homeownership—and where vacancies were highest.
The South’s number of home vacancies was highest among the regional groupings, at 1.7 percent. This surmounted the percentage of vacancies in the Northeast, which stood at 1.2 percent, those in the Midwest, where they stood at 1.2 percent, and those in the West, where there were the least number of vacancies by percentage, at 1.0 percent. National rates of vacancy dropped from their Q1 2018 levels to 1.4 percent from 1.5 percent.
The overall US homeownership rate was 64.2, unchanged year-over-year from Q1 2018.
Which region had the highest homeownership rate? The Midwest, where the rate was a full 68.2 percent. The South came in second, with a rate of 66.2 percent, followed by the Northeast at 60.7 percent, and finally the West, at 59.8 percent.
Among age groups, the age spread of 35-44 (the “middle-aged” group, which roughly corresponds with Millennial and younger Generation X buyers) showed the largest gain in homeownership rate year-over-year: their rate of housing increased from 59.8 percent to 60.3 percent. Those from 45-54 years of age saw a decrease in their share from 70 percent to 69.5 percent. The other age groups’ rates of homeownership were essentially unchanged, with those under 35 seeing a rise of just a point from 35.3 to 35.4 percent, those 55-64 years of age standing still at 75.4 percent, and those 65 and over holding strong at 78.5 percent.
Where the income of homeowners was concerned, those Americans who had income equal to or greater than the median family income enjoyed a homeownership rate of 78.0 percent, which was nonetheless a drop from Q1 2018’s 78.3 percent. Those families with income lower than the median family income saw a felicitous increase in homeownership rates from Q1 2018’s 50 percent to 50.5 percent.
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