The Census Bureau was out with data Thursday on the national homeownership rate. The bureau, in the data release, reported "The homeownership rate in the fourth quarter 2018, 64.8%, was not statistically different from the rate in the fourth quarter 2017 (64.2%). But others saw much more in the data. Housingwire.com reports
According to the latest data from the Census Bureau, the homeownership rate rose in the fourth quarter to 64.8%, which is a four-year high. And it also continues a trend of the homeownership rate steadily increasing ever since that figure hit a nearly all-time low back in 2016.
Ever since the homeownership rate hit 62.9% back in the second quarter of 2016, that figure has risen steadily, with the fourth quarter of 2018 hitting the highest total since the first quarter of 2014.
And just as in the third quarter, the increase is being driven by younger buyers, specifically those 44 and under.
And according to CoreLogic Deputy Chief Economist Ralph McLaughlin, there’s even more good news hidden in the data itself, as it appears that much of the growth in homeownership seems to be coming from renters who are becoming home buyers.
