California is next-to-last in homeownership

California is next-to-last in homeownership

California is the nation’s second-hardest state to find a homeowner. My trusty spreadsheet reviewed homeownership stats from the Census Bureau for the 50 states back to 1988. The numbers show little return on decades of incentives to get Americans to live in a home they own. California is a prime example of what didn’t work. It had an average 55% of its households living in a home they own in 2022 through 2024. Only New York, at 53%, had less ow…

Homeownership Rate Dips to Five-Year Low

The homeownership rate declined to 65.1% in the first quarter of 2024, the lowest level since the first quarter of 2020, according to the Census’s Housing Vacancy Survey (HVS). Amid elevated mortgage interest rates and tight housing supply, housing affordability is at a multidecade low. Compared to the peak of 69.2% in 2004, the homeownership...