The U.S. home ownership rate was 64.2% in the first quarter of 2018, unchanged from last quarter, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Housing Vacancy Survey (HVS). However, the rate appears to be on a sustainable upward trend following its cycle low of 62.9% in the second quarter of 2016, Eye on Housing’s Na Zhao reports.
On an annual basis, home ownership increased among all age groups under 55. The share of millennial who own a home increased from 34.3% a year ago to 35.3% in the first quarter 2018. However, it slipped 0.7% from a three-year high of 36% in the last quarter 2017.The home-ownership rates of households ages 35-44 experienced a 0.8% increase, followed by the 0.6% gains registered by households ages 45-54.
The housing stock-based HVS revealed that the number of homeowner households increased to 119.5 million in the first quarter of this year, up 1.1 million from a year earlier. Zhao attributes this to strong owner household formation.
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