The homeownership rate in the United States remained unchanged at 66% in the first quarter of 2023 amid “persistently tight housing supply,” according to the Census Bureau’s Housing Vacancy Survey (HVS). The rate is below the historic peak of 69.2% in 2004, but largely in line with the 25-year average rate of 66.4%.
The national rental vacancy rate rose to 6.4%. The homeowner vacancy rate is still hovering near the lowest rate in the survey’s 66-year history (0.8%), signaling a supply-constrained housing market.
The homeownership rates of adults in all age groups increased over the last year. The homeownership rates among households aged 55-64 registered the largest gains among all age groups, from 75.1% to 76.1%, followed by householders aged 45-54 with 0.7 percentage point increase from 69.4% to 70.1%. Households aged less than 35 experienced a modest 0.5 percentage point increase. The homeownership rates of households aged 35-44 edged up a 0.3 percentage point. Households aged 65 and older saw their homeownership rates rise to 78.8% in the first quarter of 2023 from 78.6% a year ago.
The housing stock-based HVS revealed that the count of total households increased to 129.2 million in the first quarter of 2023 from 127.8 million a year ago. The gains are largely due to strong owner household formation (1.7 million increase), while renter households decreased 236,000.
