Home Ownership Continues Decline

U.S. home ownership dipped to its lowest level in nearly nine years in the first three months of the year while housing vacancies reached an all-time high, according to figures released Monday by the Commerce Department.

The quarterly Census Bureau report on housing vacancies and home ownership said that home ownership rate fell to 67.3 percent in the first quarter of 2009, its lowest point since the second quarter of 2000. U.S. home ownership reached an all-time high of 69.2 percent in the last quarter of 2004. The change in the quarterly rate, though not statistically significant in itself, continues a trend at least two years old.

The total U.S. housing stock stood at 130.5 million units in the first quarter of 2009, including homeowner properties and rentals. Nearly 14 million year-round properties reportedly stood vacant, in addition to nearly 5 million seasonal properties.

A total of 2.7 percent of all homeowner housing stood vacant during the quarter, statistically unchanged from 2.9 percent the quarter before. Rental vacancies held steady at 10.1 percent of the available stock.

The trends show that homeownership has been declining and vacancies have been increasing since approximately the first quarter of 2007, well before the beginning of the current economic downturn. Home ownership peaked at around 69 percent in 2004 and remained there with minor fluctuations for about three years. Starting in the first quarter of 2007, it began a slow but steady decline to where it is now.

Similarly, homeowner vacancy rates held steady around 1.7 percent from 2002 through 2004, rose slightly in 2005, then shot up to 2.7 percent in 2006, fluctuating between 2.7 and 2.9 percent ever since. Rental vacancies have been more irregular, fluctuating slightly during that time but generally remaining around 9.5 percent to 10 percent of the available rental stock.

More details are available on the Census Bureau press release.