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Home Ownership Rates for the US from 1965 to present

Source: United States Statistical Abstracts

Accounting for Changes in the Homeownership Rate, M. Chambers, C. Garriga,D.. Schlagenhauf, Working Paper 2007-21, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, September 2007

Key findings:

• After years of stagnation, homeownership rate steadily increased in the US between 1994 and 2005.
• The long-run importance of demographic effects for the aggregate homeowner-
  ship rate is in the range of 16 to 31 percent. The effect of the introduction of new mortgage products range between 56 and 70 percent.
• The transitional analysis suggests that demographic factors play a more dominant role the further away from the long-run equilibrium.
• The new loan products are known as the combo loan and are characterized by lower downpayment requirements. It is found that combo loans tend to be the contract
  of choice of for younger cohorts which explains an important part of the increase in the aggregate homeownership rate observed since 1994.
• Demographic factors are especially important in understanding participation rate changes of households older than age 50.
• The model suggests that fifty percent of the increase in homeownership can be attributed to the introduction of the new mortgage product.