Reply #12: Probably true if adjusted for population growth ... [View All]

[krkaufman]

... but are we actually back to pre-January 2001 levels of home ownership?

Some indications from the article...

The report shows that 2.8% of homes not in the rental market now sit vacant, matching the record high, also from last year's first quarter. That's nearly twice the rate of vacant homes that were on the market during the first quarter or 2001, just as the economy was heading into its last recession.

"For some perspective sake, this measure never topped 1.9% until the housing bubble started deflating," said Mike Larson, a real estate analyst with Weiss Research.

The ownership rate was 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% in the second and fourth quarters of 2004.