SPOTLIGHT ON HOME
OWNERSHIP

Percent of Boomers and Millennials who owned a home by age 30.

Owning a home is not only a cultural touchstone; it is closely linked to how Americans plan for their financial future. Surveys show that Americans of every generation continue to feel strongly about the desirability of homeownership, regardless of whether they have achieved it themselves. Nevertheless, by 2016, the rate of homeownership fell to a 50-year low. As part of the Milestones study by the Stanford Center on Longevity’s Sightlines Project, we investigate generational differences in in rates and predictors of current homeownership trends.

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EXPLORE THE DATA

PERCENTAGE OF AMERICANS WHO ARE HOMEOWNERS

HOMEOWNERSHIP AND MORTGAGE-INCOME RATIO BY:

EDUCATION

ETHNICITY

INCOME

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SEE MORE SIGHTLINES FINDINGS

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

SEPIDEH MODREK
Assistant Professor of Economics
San Francisco State University, College of Business

sepideh-modrekDr. Modrek’s work examines the nexus of health, income, and wealth using econometric techniques. Her projects aim to elucidate how changes in social circumstance lead to changes in health.

“The timing of marriage and childbearing are strongly related to homeownership and these life events are highly interrelated. As younger cohorts delay or forego marriage, these cultural and sociodemographic changes are also likely to have an effect on homeownership.”

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To connect with our faculty affiliates, please contact SCL program manager, Nikki Tran ([email protected])

FINANCIAL SECURITY DIRECTOR’S POST

DO YOUNGER PEOPLE WANT TO BUY HOUSES ANYMORE?

Home ownership has always been heralded as the great American dream but it appears to be a dream that is slow to be realized by younger generations of Americans. Between 1950 and 2005, home ownership rates rose fairly consistently, from 50% to 68.9%, with the exception of the 1980’s where rates remained essentially flat. Since the peak in 2005, overall home ownership has fallen to 63.7%, the same rate as 1980. While each age group under 75 has experienced declines, those potential home buyers between 25-44 have seen the most dramatic changes of all, experiencing more than an 8% decline in home ownership between 2000 and 2014….Read more

MARTHA DEEVYdeevy
DIRECTOR OF THE FINANCIAL SECURITY DIVISION

COMMENTARY

IS DIPPING HOMEOWNERSHIP HERE TO STAY?

In the United States, the homeownership rate has been fluctuating in the 60-70 percent range over the past half a century.[1] The rate rose slowly but steadily throughout the 1960s and 1970s, before receding to a relatively stable 64% during the late 1980s and early 1990s. At the turn of the millennium, a pronounced boom-bust cycle for the housing market occurred, where homeownership reached an all-time high of 69% in 2005. After the financial crisis in 2006, home ownership has been steadily declining, falling to 63% as of the second quarter of 2016, the lowest level since 1965…Read more

JIALU STREETERjialu_streeter-01
ECONOMIST

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The Milestones Project was made possible through the support of Fidelity Investments.