My Real Estate Blog

Fed releases study on homeownership rate

The U.S. homeownership rate, currently down two percentage points from its 2006 peak of 69 percent, could decline by an additional five percentage points over the coming years to levels last seen in the mid-1990s, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 

The study looks at the number of underwater homeowners and excludes them from the official homeownership rate calculated quarterly by the Census Bureau.  Based on the study, the actual rate of homeownership is 62 percent, rather than the 67.2 percent rate as reported by the Census Bureau.