The number of new homeowners outstripped that of new renters for the first time in a decade
By Laura Kusisto | The Wall Street Journal
For the first time in a decade, more new U.S. households in the first quarter chose to buy homes than to rent, suggesting a long-term decline in homeownership rates might be coming to an end.
Some 854,000 new-owner households were formed during the first three months of the year, more than double the 365,000 new-renter households formed during the period, the Census Bureau said Thursday.
That is the first time since the third quarter of 2006 that the number of new homeowners outstripped that of new renters, according to Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist at Trulia.
