U.S. Homeownership Rate Falls to 19-year Low in Second Quarter

[Hissyspit]

Source: Reuters

U.S. homeownership rate falls to 19-year low in second quarter

Tue Jul 29, 2014 10:26am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Homeownership in the United States hit a 19-year low in the second quarter as financially squeezed Americans opted to rent, pointing to a sluggish housing market recovery.

The seasonally adjusted homeownership rate fell to 64.8 percent, the lowest level since the second quarter of 1995, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday.

The rate, which peaked at 69.4 percent in 2004, was 65.0 percent in the first three months of 2013.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0FY1GD20140729

[DesertDiamond]

1. I'm amazed that the rate is that high. Most people I know rent.

[ballyhoo]

4. My daughter just bought a condo in

Laguna Hills. I went with her on all her searches all over the place. There are a lot of properties available in Southern California. The strangest thing about looking at these properties, we got to talk to quite a few sellers during the experience. Over two-thirds of them were not relocating somewhere in the US--but actually leaving the country. The lady whose condo my daughter bought was going to Costa Rica because she was offered a job there. Maybe this is not strange but I thought it was. BTW, the gift amount for giving to children has been raised to $14,000 per parent as of this year. Other considerations too, but too many for this thread.

[KG]

2. more evidence of the fallacy of the economic recovery

[tridim]

3. Bush destroyed the economy, millions of credit scores...

and people's ability to secure a reasonable mortgage rate.

None of this is surprising. I'd like to consider buying a small house, but I can't because I can't get another mortgage until 2017.

[Hosnon]

5. Most Millennials who can afford a mortgage already have one.

Their student loan payment.

[LittleGirl]

7. +1 That's it really eom

[mnhtnbb]

6. We have a small house to sell--1860 sq ft--and it has been on the market since late February.

The showing service (schedules showings) indicates it has been shown 33 times. We have not had one offer.
Not one. Right now, it is priced $55,000 under the appraised value given it when we refinanced the mortgage
on it in 2011, and we have considerably more than that in it from remodeling/updating it when we bought it
in 2008. We don't want to drop the price any more and we don't want to return to making it a rental (which
it was from 2011 until last May) because we turned down the one and only offer we had from an investor
in 2011 at a price more than $100,000 under what we had in it.

Sigh.

[Xolodno]

8. Not surprised.

There are probably a number of factors that play into this:

1. Poor credit scores

2. Not enough income

3. Upside down in current mortgage and unable to sell.

I own two homes, a vacation home and rental property. But where I live...I rent. After the advice of a good attorney and accountant...we walked away from our house...never forget what the attorney told me:

"If this is your dream home, then by all means do what you have to do to stay in it. If its not, run from it...and milk the bank (loan mod, cash for keys, etc.) all you can."

After he said that, I remember distinctively the reason we bought it for...something that will grow in equity and that obviously was not going to happen, but we lost sight of that when we slowly addressed the property to our comfort.

Looking back....should have never bought the place...even if the bubble didn't occur and there was no depression. We were not ready to "settle down" and got locked up in the "you need to be a homeowner" hype. Example:

Home ownership: Wife calls and says XYZ broke....there goes my weekend.

Renting: Wife calls and says XYZ broke...I tell her I'll call the landlord...oh and get are packs ready for the hike this weekend.

Another issue, I seriously reevaluated where I was working....and I'm not happy there. I stayed on for the experience and the obligation of the mortgage. Now, I'm looking at opportunities in another industry in other states.

Wife and I do want to have a "home" per se. But decided we should build it (or drop a manufactured home...wife wants low maintenance, as do I) where we want to retire. In a few more years we will probably by the land and slowly work from there.

A friend of mine who lost his house in the recession just recently built a new customized large house (don't ask me how)...but all I could think of was "This is going to be his tomb". He's more than once indicated a want to travel or even move to somewhere more aesthetically pleasing....I don't think he quite thought this through.

[waddirum]

9. I'm 45 and have rented my entire adult life.

I have no expectation of ever really owning a house. It is simply unaffordable where I want to live. And I can't imagine being 75 years before getting out of debt.

Most of my friends purchased their houses/condos in the mid- to late- 2000s. I remember one work mate who purchased his condo on the very day that the Lehman Brothers failure became news.