Homeownership is inching up.
According to Census data from the fourth quarter of 2018, newly released, the homeownership rate rose to 64.8 percent—its highest since 2014, and building on an incrementally rising trend.
Looking at the prior year, in the fourth quarter of 2017, the homeownership rate was 64.2 percent, and compared to the last quarter, in the third quarter of 2018, the homeownership rate was 64.4 percent.
The clear homeownership leader is the Midwest, where the homeownership rate is 69.3 percent. Second is the South, where the homeownership rate is 66 percent, followed by the Northeast at 61.3 percent and the West at 60.9 percent. Notably, the biggest change was in the West, where the homeownership rate surged, up from 60 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017.
In keeping with trend, the highest homeownership rates are among whites (defined as “Non-Hispanic White Alone households”), at 73.6 percent, and those aged 65 and up, at 78.8 percent. The Asian/Native American/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander homeownership rate is 58.1 percent, while the black homeownership rate is 42.9 percent—the latter the lowest in the segment. The Hispanic homeownership rate is 46.9 percent—a figure that hasn’t grown substantially year-over-year.
Among millennials, the homeownership rate is 36.5 percent—a dip from 36.8 percent in the third quarter of 2018.
Homeownership has hovered in the 64 percent range for some time, Census data show. The last peak was in the third quarter of 2013, when it was 65.3 percent.
