Dream of home ownership fades as foreclosures increase

Fewer individuals claim home ownership now than at any time within the last ten years. Hardship in a depressed economy is depleting the number of United States of America homeowners at an increasing rate. Millions of Americans have lost their homes in the last five years and millions more are expected to in the near future.

home ownership decreasing gradually

There has been a constant decrease in home ownership in the United States of America in the last five year. The United States Census Bureau accounts this. U.S. home ownership has dropped by 3 million households since 2005. In the 3rd quarter this year the rate of home ownership had been 66.9 percent — the lowest rate since 1999. There was a peak within the first quarter of 2005 though. 69.1 percent owned their homes. The economic uncertainty of the past various years hit younger homeowners the most. In the third quarter 39.2 percent of people younger than 35 owned homes, a decline of 9 percent since 2005.

The housing sector

As homeownership falls, the housing market follows. There was a 19 percent drop in existing home sales from a year ago in Sept. It’s an all time low of 307,000 existing home sales annually. The lack of sales continues to drive down home prices. Based on the census Bureau, many homes are vacant right now. 18.8 million homes are this way at present. Housing starts in 2010 are at about a 600,000 a year annual rate, far below what is considered normal. Cable News Network had been able to speak with a real estate analyst. This person said that renting and forming new households just is not taking place as much right now. Families are doubling up and younger individuals are living with more roommates.

How home ownership impacts the foreclosure crisis

This year, a million homes are expected to foreclose. If unemployment stays this high, there could be more homes foreclosed on. In 2011, the rate will be even higher. Morgan Stanley came out with a record on this. It said that about 3.1 million mortgage holders will likely be foreclosed on as they’re seriously delinquent. There will probably be about half of those homeowners falling behind ending up with foreclosure. About 4 million homeowners are dropping behind. Any time might lead to homes being foreclosed. 11 million are currently expected to foreclose.

Articles cited

CNN

money.cnn.com/2010/11/02/real_estate/homeownership_rate_falls/?iid=MPM

Daily Finance

dailyfinance.com/story/real-estate/u-s-homeownership-stuck-at-lowest-level-since-1999/19699908/

Consumer Affairs

consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/11/the-american-dream-of-home-ownership-is-in-its-dimmest-period-in-more-than-a-decade.html