Homeownership at Second Highest Rate
on Record!

2010 Census shows second-highest homeownership rate on record despite largest decrease since 1940.

The NAHB 20 Club program began with one group 11 years ago. That original club is still in existence (Builder Club #1, known informally as The Hammers). The U.S. Census Bureau has released a 2010 Census brief, Housing Characteristics: 2010, that shows the homeownership rate is the second highest on record, behind only 2000, since homeownership data collection began in 1890. However, the rate decreased by 1.1 percentage points to 65.1 percent between 2000 and 2010. The decrease is the largest since the period from 1930 to 1940.

The national housing inventory increased by 15.8 million units, or 13.6 percent, from 2000 to 2010. The housing inventory increased in all states during the decade but grew faster in the South and West than in the Midwest and Northeast. As a percentage of the entire national inventory, more than a third of all owner-occupied homes (38.3 percent) and renter-occupied homes (35.6 percent) were in the South. The homeownership rate in the Midwest was 69.2 percent, followed by the South (66.7 percent), the Northeast (62.2 percent) and the West (60.5 percent). Homeownership rates decreased in each region from 2000 to 2010.

Mortgage rates fall below 4%!

The Wall Street Journal

According to Freddie Mac, the average 30-year mortgage dropped below the 4 percent mark to 3.94 percent, which went down from a previous 4.3 percent. Rates have not been this low since the survery began in 1971. Reflecting tight credit standards and slow demand, applications for mortgages actually fell as well, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association report. The reasoning behind a number of borrowers being unable to refinance is because of not enough equity or they can't qualify under tougher lending standards. According to the MBA, refinance applications were down by 5.2 percent while home-purchase apps were down by 0.8 percent. Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston said, “Clearly getting more money into the hands of homeowners who would spend it could help to fuel GDP growth.”

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