While the homeownership rate has fallen for five straight years, more renters are living in single-family homes that have been converted to rentals.
In addition, researchers are noticing that more newly built homes are being delivered as rentals, according to a new Fannie Mae report.
“Single-family homes continue to absorb an outsized share of new
In 2012, single-family detached units accounted for 28.5% of the renter-occupied housing stock, “a larger share than any other housing type.”
The report points out that 7% of newly built homes in 2011 were slated for rentals. In 2012, the percentage of newly constructed single-family units slated for rentals edged down to 6.5%. The Fannie report analyzed data from the annual Census Bureau American Community Survey.
A recent report by economists at Wells Fargo Securities shows that 857,420 new households were formed in the U.S. during 2012. But the number of homeowners fell by 237,750 and the number of renters rose by 1.1 million.
The WSF economists note that many college graduates are burdened by student loan debt and “younger households put a higher value on mobility” and don’t want to be tied down by owning a house.
The American Community Survey found that the homeownership among households aged 25-34 has declined by 8.5% since 2007, including a 2% drop in 2012.
“The findings related to homeownership rates and single-family rentals are important because they reveal the durability of the demand shift from owning to renting that emerged from the housing crisis and Great Recession,” the Fannie report says.
