Proof that the American dream of home ownership is not dead for young families comes from a new report released by the U.S. Census Bureau. From 2019 to 2022, homeownership rates increased for all races and ethnicities, except Native American.
In a rebound the Bureau said was driven largely by individuals aged 44 or younger, the rate of homeownership jumped to 65.8% in 2022 – up from 64.6% recorded in 2019.
The data is based on the Bureau’s Current Population Survey/Housing Vacancy Survey.
“Homeownership rates recovered approximately half of the 5.6% decrease from 2004 to 2016,” the Bureau noted, referring to the years that began with the foreclosure crisis and followed the global financial crisis of 2008 when the rate sank as low as 63.4%.
From 2016 to 2022, homeownership among adults under age 55 went up even though younger households typically are more likely to rent than own. Homeownership rates for older householders remained stable.
From 2019 to 2022, the rate rose about 2% for householders under age 35 and between the ages of 35 – 44, while increasing by only 0.5% for the 65-plus age group.
Homeownership rose 4.5% in the under-35 age group, 3.6% in the 35-44 cohort, and 1.2% among those aged 45-54.
Homeownership rates rose in all regions of the country from 2019-2022. Before 2019, the Midwest was an outlier, but by 2022 the region’s homeownership rate was the nation’s highest at 70%. The South took second place with a 67.3 percent rate, followed by the Northeast (62.5%) and West (61.4%).
“Low mortgage rates likely helped drive the rise, even after rates began to go up in 2022,” the Bureau commented. Indeed, the average 30-year mortgage rate in these years was 3.65% in 2016, 3.99% in 2017, 4.54% in 2018, 3.94% in 2019, 3.1% in 2020, and 2.96% in 2021 – before shooting up to 5.34% in 2022, according to Freddie Mac data.
Between 2016-2019, homeownership rates rose for all groups except Black or Native American households. However, from 2019-2022 most groups – including Black Americans but still excluding Native Americans – experienced higher homeownership rates.
“The share of non-Hispanic white householders who owned a home grew from 71.9% in 2016 to 74.4% in 2022. There was about a 3-point increase for Black alone householders (45%) and about a 6-point increase for American Indian or Alaska Native householders (53.4%) and Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander householders (61%),” the report noted.