Emmanuel Fonte | Music | Art | Leadership
If music be the food of love, play on. Emmanuel Fonte website is about music, art, real estate, architecture, design and decor. Occasionally, I talk about my other passion, hockey.
It’s been said that your home is your castle, and sometimes you need help defending it. NAR’s newest campaign, “Dreams,” assures consumers that NAR and REALTORS® are working hard to protect the dream and reality of homeownership for our families and our future.
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Americans still favor home ownership. The U.S. homeownership rate continues to remain around 65.5 percent, the U.S. Census Bureau reported late last week. The home ownership rate is nearly the same as it was in the second quarter of 2011 at 65.9 percent.
The Census Bureau also reported that vacancy rates for housing were 2.1 percent and vacancy rates for renting were 8.6 percent in the second quarter.
The home ownership rate peaked at 69.2 percent in 2004. Home owners outnumber renters in nearly 100 percent of the nation’s 3,095 counties evaluated by the Census.
Keweenaw County, located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, posted one of the best home ownership rates: 89.8 percent.
Source: “National Home Ownership Rate Is Pegged at 65 Percent,” The Business Journals
Americans are getting more optimistic about their financial future, and they believe housing still plays an important part in that, according to a poll of 1,000 to 2,000 people conducted by FTI Strategic Communications.
Sixty-two percent of Americans say they expect the economy to improve within the next year. What’s more, 73 percent of those surveyed say home ownership is part of achieving the American Dream.
According to the survey, Americans believe they increasingly hold their financial fate, with 60 percent saying that they can be comfortable financially by working hard and being savvy with their investing.
What’s more, 44 percent say they believe they’ve had more opportunities than their parents.
The survey found that the chief worries among the public is paying for health care, losing a job, and the high costs of education.
Source: “Consumer Corner: Americans Still Optimists,” Bloomberg Businessweek
The national home ownership rate has held mostly steady this year, standing at 65.5 percent for the second quarter, according to recent U.S. Census Bureau data. The rate is 0.4 percentage points lower than the second quarter of 2011, but 0.1 percentage point higher than the first quarter of this year.
The home ownership rate has steadily fallen over the last few years since last peaking in the first quarter of 2005 at 69.1 percent.
Home ownership rates are highest in the Midwest at 69.6 percent whereas home ownership rates are the lowest in the West, at 59.7 percent, according to the Census data.
Here’s a closer look at the home ownership rate among different demographics, according to the second quarter U.S. Census Bureau housing data:
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
