By Dennis Norman, on October 28th, 2012  The St. Louis area has seen a fairly dramatic change in the make-up of the housing occupants with a shift from home-owners to renters over the past six years. After the crash of the real estate market we have experienced, as well as massive unemployment and a weak economy, this is not surprising, but is something that I think needs to be recognized. The five-county St Louis core market (St Louis County, St. Louis City, St Charles County, Jefferson County and Franklin County) as a whole saw owner-occupied units drop almost 3.5 percent during the period while, at the same time, renter-occupied units increased almost 15 percent resulting in renter’s making up almost 31 percent of all the occupied housing units in 2011, up 13.14 percent from 2005 when they accounted for 27.29 percent.
As we drill-down to the county level, we can see that the results vary fairly significantly by county. For example, Jefferson County saw the largest increase in renter-occupied housing units with a 35.38 percent increase during the six-year period, while Franklin County had a decrease of almost 9 percent in renter occupied units during the period. Continue reading “St. Louis Area Renter Occupied Housing On the Rise While Owner Occupied Housing Declines“
By Dennis Norman, on May 16th, 2012  According to a new report, The Shifting Nature of U.S. Housing Demand, by The Demand Institute, average home prices will increase by up to 1 percent in the second half of 2012. By 2014, home prices will increase by as much as 2.5 percent. From 2015 to 2017, the study projects annual increases between 3 and 4 percent. Since the real estate market is very local, it is not surprising that the report says this recovery will not be uniform across the country, and the strongest markets could capture average gains of 5 percent or more in the coming years. Continue reading “Report says housing market recovery to be led by demand by investors for rental property“
By Dennis Norman, on May 15th, 2012 Before you go getting too excited over my headline, I should point out that, even though Fed Reserve Board Governor Duke’s presentation today at the National Association of REALTORS mid-year meeting in Washington D.C. was titled “Prescriptions for Housing Recovery“, Governor Duke opened her remarks with “I wish I had such a prescription”. She went on to say that it is difficult to think of a single thing that, by itself will generate a sustainable recovery in housing. She did say, however, that she saw some policies that will help reduce the shadow inventory of houses in the foreclosure pipeline as well as improve the availability of financing to potential home buyers.
Continue reading “Fed Reserve Governor Duke on the "Prescriptions for Housing Recovery"“
By Dennis Norman, on October 7th, 2011  Yesterday, statistician’s from the U.S. Census Bureau gave a briefing on highlights of the housing characteristics data contained in the 2010 Census. Several interesting facts came out, but the one that I found most interesting was that the data shows the U.S., at 65.1 percent, has the second highest homeownership rate on record for the period (see chart below). It’s not that all the recent talk about the decline in homeownership was unfounded however as the census data did show that the drop in the rate of homeownership during this last census period (2000-2010) of 1.1 percent is the largest decrease since the period from 1930-1940. Continue reading “2010 Census Data Shows Second Hightest Homeownership Rate on Record Despite Largest Decrease since 1940“
By Dennis Norman, on March 18th, 2011 Nearly nine out of 10 homeowners say they would buy their homes again.
 Despite the financial blood-shed the real estate market downturn has caused many homeowners, Americans still have a deep-rooted attachment to home ownership according to the Allstate-National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll. The poll, funded by Allstate Corporation revealed that nearly nine out of 10 homeowners surveyed said they would buy their homes again. The amazing thing is that this percentage held true even for those homeowners who said their homes had lost value since they purchased it. Seven out of 10 Americans say they would advise a friend or family member to buy a home as a long-term purchase. Continue reading “Home ownership is still an intergral part of the American Dream“
By Dennis Norman, on December 31st, 2010 As 2010 quickly comes to an end I sat here early this morning pondering the real estate market and reading reports on the housing industry. One thing that caught my attention was an article titled “The Mortgage Interest Deduction and Negative Equity” by Ted Gayer, the co-director of economic studies at the Brookings Institute (and occasional contributor to this blog). Ted’s article made some interesting points related to the mortgage interest deduction, negative equity and home-ownership rates in the U.S.
In his article Ted states “It seems semantically incorrect to call someone who owes more on an asset than it’s worth an “owner.”” This is a point that others have made as well and I think makes a good point. With this in mind, and in the mood to do some research and create some charts, I decided to dig into the topic deeper. Continue reading “Has The Rate of Home Ownership Dropped to an All-Time Low?“
By Dennis Norman, on April 29th, 2010  Dennis Norman According to a report issued by the U.S. Census Bureau earlier this week, the percentage of Americans that own a home in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2010 dropped to 67.1 percent, the lowest rate of homeownership since the same quarter of 2000. The homeownership rate for 4th quarter 2009 was 67.2 percent, the low for 2009.
REGIONAL HOMEOWNERSHIP:
The Midwest Region has the highest rate of homeownership, as of the 1st quarter of 2010, at 70.9 percent with the South region not far behind at 69.2 percent. The Northeast homeownership rate was 64.4 percent and the West had the lowest at 61.9 percent.
HOMEOWNERSHIP DEMOGRAPHICS:
- Traditionalists Generation, 65 years and above, 80.6 percent.
- Highest rate for this group since first quarter 2007
- Older Boomers, 55 to 64 years, 79.1 percent.
- Highest rate for this group since third quarter 2009
- Younger Boomers, 45 to 54 years, 74.8 percent.
- Highest rate for this group since third quarter 2008
- Generation X’ers, 35 to44 years, 65.3 percent
- Lowest rate for this group in over 5 years
- Generation Y’ers, under 35 years, 38.9 percent.
- Lowest rate for this group in over 5 years
What is interesting about the age of homeowners is that, while first-time home sales have been propping up the market, partially as a result of the first-time homebuyer tax credit, the younger population’s percentage of homeownership has dropped dramatically. It seems that the X’ers and Y’ers either don’t value home ownership as much as their parents did, don’t trust a home as an investment, or perhaps cannot afford to buy a house. If this trend continues I would think it will definitely drag down the homeownership numbers in the future as well.
Homeownership by Race and Ethnicity:
- Non-Hispanic White – 74.5 percent
- Black – 45.6 percent
- Hispanic (of any race) – 48.5 percent
- All Other Races – 57.2 percent
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