Number of homeowners in the U.S. falls

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The U.S. homeownership rate fell to 67.3% in the first quarter of the year, the Census Bureau reports today (nice table on Page 4 of the release). That’s down from 67.8% a year earlier.

The Census data (table on Page 8 of the linked release) also show this appears to have been an equal-opportunity bubble and bust, with white and minority homeownership rates fluctuating pretty evenly.

Historically, the homeownership rate has hovered around 65%. But from 2004 to about mid-2006, it got up to 69%. It’s been heading down the last couple of years, and we’ll see how far it goes. At the Calculated Risk blog, Bill figures some of the increase is due to the aging population, so a bit of the gain will stick even after overextended bubble buyers drop out. The homeownership rate for those age 65 and older was 80.4%, pretty consistent over the past five years (table on Page 7).

Perhaps older people short on retirement savings will cash out and rent, though. We shall see.

-- Peter Y. Hong