The homeownership rate fell further last quarter, and is now at its lowest level in a decade, according to a Census Bureau report released today.
The homeownership rate — measured by the percentage of occupied housing units that are occupied by their owners — had been rising in the 1990s and early 2000s partly because of more lax mortgage lending, and partly because of demographics. That is, the population has been aging, and older people are more likely to own their own homes.
While credit conditions are unlikely to return to their loosey-goosey ways in the near future, the aging of America will continue. Many analysts therefore believe that the homeownership rate may fall a little further, but that it is unlikely to fully return to its historical, prebubble lows.