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>Missing from this story is a third, even more fortunate group: the rapidly growing number of Americans who own their homes outright. Missing from this story i

>Missing from this story is a third, even more fortunate group: the rapidly growing number of Americans who own their homes outright. Missing from this story is a fourth, the even less fortunate group: the rapidly growing number of Americans who have never owned a home and know better than to try. The growth of this group is likely what's causing the growth in the relative proportion of home owners who are mortgage free.

brightball 3y ago
Plenty of opportunities. Just might be in areas with lower populations. Combined with remote work…
- runeofdoom 3y ago
  A lot of areas with lower population do not have the requisite internet infrastructure to support remote work. And the ones that do have seen their housing prices shoot up.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    I question how true that is at this point. Even Starlink seems pretty suitable for most remote work scenarios at this point. (Though TBF Starlink is a game-changer in that respect. My brother's house would have been very marginal for remote working before Starlink came along.)
drivebycomment 3y ago
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RHORUSQ156N https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RHORUSQ156N shows the overall home ownership has been going up since 2016, currently around 66% though still lower than peak 69% in 2014, but higher than 63% in 1965.
- superkuh 3y ago
  I think you're confused. I'm talking about the proportion of human people that own a home. Your link and plot is talking about the proportion of homes the owner lives in. >"The homeownership rate is the proportion of households that is owner-occupied."
  - kelnos 3y ago
    I don't think I've ever seen data that counts vacation homes as "owner-occupied", so in practice, the proportion of owner-occupied homes is the same thing as the proportion of people who own a home.
  - kelnos 3y ago
    Yes, and to live in a home as an "owner", you need to own the home. Which would be... the proportion of human people that own a home.
lazide 3y ago
Interestingly, for those moving around often the actual dynamics of renting now are still very, very positive. All the recent places I’ve lived, the plausible mortgage costs if I had bought it would be 2-3x the rent I’m paying for the place. That was before the interest rate hikes. It’s only gotten more favorable since. Not necessarily a great long term strategy (over decades), but in the short term it’s pretty awesome.

brightball 3y ago

Plenty of opportunities. Just might be in areas with lower populations. Combined with remote work…

runeofdoom 3y ago
A lot of areas with lower population do not have the requisite internet infrastructure to support remote work. And the ones that do have seen their housing prices shoot up.
- ghaff 3y ago
  I question how true that is at this point. Even Starlink seems pretty suitable for most remote work scenarios at this point. (Though TBF Starlink is a game-changer in that respect. My brother's house would have been very marginal for remote working before Starlink came along.)

drivebycomment 3y ago

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RHORUSQ156N https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RHORUSQ156N shows the overall home ownership has been going up since 2016, currently around 66% though still lower than peak 69% in 2014, but higher than 63% in 1965.

superkuh 3y ago
I think you're confused. I'm talking about the proportion of human people that own a home. Your link and plot is talking about the proportion of homes the owner lives in. >"The homeownership rate is the proportion of households that is owner-occupied."
- kelnos 3y ago
  I don't think I've ever seen data that counts vacation homes as "owner-occupied", so in practice, the proportion of owner-occupied homes is the same thing as the proportion of people who own a home.
- kelnos 3y ago
  Yes, and to live in a home as an "owner", you need to own the home. Which would be... the proportion of human people that own a home.

lazide 3y ago

Interestingly, for those moving around often the actual dynamics of renting now are still very, very positive. All the recent places I’ve lived, the plausible mortgage costs if I had bought it would be 2-3x the rent I’m paying for the place. That was before the interest rate hikes. It’s only gotten more favorable since. Not necessarily a great long term strategy (over decades), but in the short term it’s pretty awesome.