By Jann Swanson | Mortgage Daily News
The U.S. Census Bureau says the nation’s Homeownership Rate was at 65.4 percent in the second quarter of 2021. This is down from both the previous quarter’s 65.6 percent, and a year earlier when it was reported at 67.9 percent. However, the Bureau cautions,” When interpreting these estimates and comparing with prior quarters and years, data users should understand and consider changes in data collection operations that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, data users should apply caution when interpreting estimates of year-to-year changes because the extent of changes in data collection operations may differ across time.”
The rate peaked in the first quarter of 2005 at 69.1 percent, then began a slow decline, bottoming out in the second quarter of 2016 at 62.9 percent. Since then, its recovery has been fitful.
By region, the rate in the West is lowest at 60.1 percent, 1.5 point lower than a year earlier. The Northeast had a rate of 61.8 percent, also down 1.5 point. The South dropped from 71.1 percent in the second quarter of 2020 to 67.1 percent this year. The Midwest, the region that typically has the highest homeownership, was at 70.7 percent compared to 71.4 percent in the earlier Q2.
