Home ownership is at the lowest rate since the 4th quarter of 1995. The Census released their quarterly housing vacancies and home ownership report. The seasonally adjusted homeownership rate is 65.1%. Many in the press tried to claim homeownership is increasing by quoting the not seasonally adjusted home ownership rate of 65.3%, which gives an uptick in people owning homes in America from the 2nd quarter of 2013. The reality is, not so. The great ownership society went bankrupt.
The Census Bureau released the Q4 home ownership, rental and vacancy rates for Q1 2012. Home ownership dropped 1.0% from Q1 2011 to 65.4%, a 0.6% drop from last quarter. This is the lowest home ownership rate since the end of 1996 and the first quarter of 1997.
Home ownership dropped -0.7% to 66.5% from a year ago and dropped -0.4% from Q3 2010. Below shows the great home ownership bubble and it's clear decline with ownership rates at Q4 1998 levels.
“Homeowners are no happier than renters by any of the following definitions: life satisfaction, overall mood, overall feeling, general moment-to-moment emotions (i.e. affect) and affect at home but instead derive more pain from their house and home,” the paper says.
The paper also concludes that there’s little evidence that homeowners are better citizens. Also, homeowners that live in neighborhoods with higher rates of homeownership only report more positive attitudes if their fellow owners have similar socio-economic standing, “lending some support to the idea of beneficial social interaction among owners.”
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