By Lawrence Yun | Forbes
So far, through the first half of 2018, existing-home sales are down just a tad by 2.2% while new home sales are up 7.4%. Home prices continue to move higher by 5%. Distressed property sales have fallen to historic lows, comprising only 3% of total sales in recent months. The one area of concern is increasing housing unaffordability. Yet even with higher mortgage rates and higher home prices, the homeownership rate has been inching higher. After touching a cyclical low of 63% ownership rate in late 2015, the rate has increased to 64.4% in the second quarter of 2018, as three million additional households became homeowners over this time, bringing the total to 77.9 million. The total number of renter households has remained roughly the same at 43 million for the past three years.
