As the housing market begins to once again show a faint heart beat, the national numbers of American homeownership are not so optimistic. It appears that the American Dream of becoming a homeowner is only true for 67.3% of Americans.
The Commerce Department is reporting that the number of homeowners have reached levels equal to those in 2000. These disappointing numbers were a cause to reflect upon, what percent of Americans own their homes compared to other major G-7 nations?
Currently the U.S. is ranking fourth within the G-7 nations. Italy actually has the highest amount of private homes owned by its citizens at 81.7% The U.K. ranks number two with 73.4% of its citizens. Canada follows in third place at 68.7% and the United States is holding the fourth place position at 67.2%. Ranking number five is France with 65.5% of its citizens owning a home, and Japan Follows in sixth place with 61.2% and Germany is currently in seventh place at 55.6%.
During the height of the housing bubble in 2004 the U.S. rate of homeownership soared to 69%. While Americans enjoyed record low interest rates and some of the most relaxed credit requirements; homeownership rates climbed to record highs.
The American Dream of becoming a homeowner seemed to come true for hundreds of thousands of wishful Americans and the possibilities seemed endless. Mortgage lenders seemed almost giddy at the opportunity to place wanting American into homes of their own. As we all know now it was this open-handed approach to lending that not only shattered the dreams of hundreds of thousands of Americans, it also caused the housing market to become saturated with foreclosures.
There is a fundamental difference between a dream and an entitlement. Dreaming of becoming a homeowner is just that, a dream. The American system of reward has always been that of hard work and sacrifice, and most of all a common sense approach to all things of importance. If any of those measuring sticks are removed front he equation there is no real possibility of true success.
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Paul – As we all know from the housing bubble, not everyone can or should own a home. While the “dream” of home-ownership for all is a nice one, there are many people who just don’t have it in the cards. It is no surprise to see the percentages declining, particularly as more and more people walk from underwater mortgages. The big question is when this decline will stop . . . .
The reality is that in the next recession you will meet people who made there money in this recession. If you can afford to buy you should
Having less people own homes is not necessarily a bad thing. Only people who can actually afford a home should own a home. That was part of the reason the market crashed. People who had no business owning a home were given mortgages.
.-= Marc Brodeur´s last blog ..Phoenix Commercial Real Estate is on LinkedIn =-.
I wonder what that number will be in the next 3 years. I’m betting it will continue to drop slightly. We’re seeing more investors buying property then regular homebuyers intent on living in the home.
.-= Chas@Las Vegas Real Estate´s last blog ..A Rise in the Condo Market =-.
Wow, that’s great that Italy has such a high homeownership rate. I wonder what their secret is. Probably a long term view of real estate ,rather than an American ‘flip it fast’ ‘upgrade me’ mentality.
.-= lulu@Las Vegas Foreclosures´s last blog ..New Las Vegas Foreclosure $39,900 =-.
Would you mind sending me the references you used for your numbers in this article? I am doing a paper and I want to use these numbers, but I need your primary resources information. Many thanks for your help with this!