Generation-X increases their stake in homeownership for the first quarter of 2016

While home ownership has declined for most age groups, Generation X has seen an increase of 0.5% from the first quarter of 2015.

Generation X, defined as those born from the early 1960s to early 1980s, has a homeownership rate of 58.9 percent for the first quarter of 2016.

However, homeownership among other groups only decreased slightly. The homeownership rate for those older than 65 percent was 78.8 percent, a slight decrease of .2 percent from this time last year. For those aged 55 to 64, 75.7 percent were homeowners, compared to 75.8 percent in the first quarter in 2015. The 45 to 54 age group saw a decrease of .9 percent, from 70.1 percent to 69.2 percent. Finally, millennials, or those under 35, decreased from 34.6 percent to 34.2 percent.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported that according to the Census Bureau’s Housing Vacancy Survey (HVS), the number of households was 117.5 million for the first quarter of 2016. Additionally, vacancy rates were down 1.7 percent, and rental rates were down 7 percent for the first quarter of 2016, compared to 2015.

However, the HVS also predicted that more households will be forming, and thus, joining the housing or rental markets in the next few years, which should provide a boost.

NAHB noted that this is more than a one-half million increase compared to the first quarter of 2015. “On a one-year moving basis, the pace of household increase is maintained at around 0.9 percent in the first quarter of 2016,” said Na Zhao of NAHB. NAHB predicts that as household formations grow, rental housing demands will as well, and then, home sales will see the increase.