U.S. Homeownership

Well, for most people. Today’s real estate news was about the good home price appreciation, announced in the release of the Case Shiller 20 city index. on a number of TV and radio news reports that I heard during the day, not one that mentioned the increase in the case Shiller index said anything about the announced news today from the Census Bureau that announced the US homeownership rate dropped to its lowest level since 1997!

It seems that today rental demand is surging across the country. The U.S. apartment vacancy rate fell to 4.9 percent in the first quarter, an 11-year low, according to New York-based Reis Inc. (REIS) The vacancy rate for rental homes was 8.8 percent in the first quarter, compared with 9.7 percent a year earlier, the Census Bureau said in today’s report.

Today’s large drop in homeownership rates has been most pronounced in the West. As of the fourth quarter, the homeownership rate there stood at 60.1%, the Census data show.

That’s down from 64.5% in the fourth quarter of 2006, which is about when home prices began their five-year tumble.

Now, the West is home to three of the states most affected by foreclosures, which have hurt homeownership rates. Nevada, Arizona and California were the top three states last year with the highest foreclosure rates, market researcher RealtyTrac says.