According to US Census Bureau Housing Vacancies and Homeownership data releases, young homebuyers under the age of 44 years old have helped to raise the country’s homeownership rate during all of 2017 and 2018. In Quarter 4 2018, the nation’s homeownership rate grew to 64.8%.
This 8-quarter homeownership spurt represents the longest and largest magnitude of household growth in more than 12 years, according to CoreLogic. In fact, Q4 2018 was the fifth consecutive quarter that owner-occupied households grew by 1M to a total of 1.7M new owner households. Simultaneously new renter households fell 6 out of 7 pas quarters with a decrease of 167,000 households.
One way that CoreLogic measured Millennial homeownership growth was by measuring the number of Millennial mortgage applications in 12/2018. Metros with the largest percentage of Millennial mortgage applications included…
- Pittsburg PN – 57%
- Provo UT – 56%
- Rochester NY – 56%
- Buffalo NY – 55%
- Des Moines IO – 54%
CoreLogic found that Millennials were buying more in more affordable regions of the country in Midwestern, Mountain West and Northwestern markets.
Metros with the smallest percentage of Millennial mortgage applications included…
- Sarasota FL – 24%
- Cape Coral FL – 30%
- Ventura CA – 32%
- Palm Beach FL – 33%
- Miami FL – 36%
CoreLogic indicated that the US Census Bureau homeownership data points to a continuing “healthy recovery path.” What does this “healthy recovery path” represent to the housing market?
- A persistent uptick in homeownership goals despite low affordability and still low, but rising, inventory.
- Household formation is seeing its strongest streak in more than a decade.
Young households, the largest pool of potential homebuyers in the US, are (finally) beginning to enter the homeownership gam
