Home Ownership In Record Plunge [View All]

[Purveyor]

Source: CNNMoney

January 29 2008: 10:30 AM EST

Fourth quarter saw biggest one-year drop in since tracking began in 1965 - as mortgage problems and rising foreclosures take their toll.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The housing and mortgage meltdown caused the biggest one-year drop in the rate of homeownership on record, according to government figures released Tuesday.

The Census Bureau report showed that home owners accounted for 67.8% of occupied homes in the fourth quarter, down 1.1 points from a year earlier. It's the largest year-over-year drop recorded in the report. The ownership rate was also well below the 68.2% ownership rate in the third quarter of 2007.

Homeownership rates, which have been tracked since 1965, hit a record high of 69.2% at the end of 2004.

The report also also showed a record 2.18 million homes vacant and available for sale in the fourth quarter, up from the 2.07 million in the third quarter and the 2.1 million a year earlier. The fourth-quarter reading on vacant homes for sale matched the previous record set in the first three months of 2007.



Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/29/news/economy/home_ownership_vacancies/?postversion=2008012910