The homeownership rate in the U.S. rose to 63.7 percent in the second quarter, up from 62.9 percent a year ago.
Through data from the Census Bureau, Zillow reports that there was a shift to ownership from renting. Last quarter had 84,000 new homeowner households, compared to a decrease of 104,000 renter households. The rental vacancy rate increased to 7.3 percent, up from 6.7 percent a year ago.
The homeownership rate of people 35 and younger is now 35 percent, the highest in two years.
Even though demand is outstandingly high, the number of for-sale homes continues to decline.
As the rental market becomes more saturated and vacancies keep climbing, there is some hope that builders may begin to re-focus their attention on the for-sale segment, a potential boon for those renters that likely want to buy and would if they could, but haven’t been able to find the right home for them given incredibly tight inventory.
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