More D-FW Residents Are Renters As Homeownership Rate Declines
Fewer Dallas-Fort Worth residents are living in their own homes.
In the second quarter, less than 60% of North Texas residents were homeowners, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. More than 4 out of 10 area residents are renters.
The homeownership rate in the D-FW area was down from a year earlier, when more than 62% of residents were homeowners. Nationwide, the homeownership rate was just over 64%, unchanged from a year ago.
"The growth in the homeownership rate has flattened because renters are growing at similar rates as owners," Ralph B. McLaughlin, deputy chief economist and executive of research and insights for CoreLogic, said in a prepared statement. "This dual-sided growth in household formation is a surely welcomed trend by industry players in both the owner- and renter-occupied segments of the U.S. housing market. "It's a core sign of a healthy market, and one that doesn't show any signs of relenting in the near future."
The U.S. homeownership rate peaked in 2004 at almost 70%. It reached a low point of less than 63% in 2016. Tougher home finance requirements and soaring home prices in recent years have reduced the number of homeowners in the country.
"As home values exploded over 2017 and 2018, incomes were dwarfed," Zillow director of economic research Skylar Olsen said in response to the new census data. "By 2019, some buyers simply couldn't save enough for a down payment and pulled back from the market, causing sales and home value appreciation to slow dramatically. "Given the affordability challenge of saving for that down payment, this could be a testament to the ambition of younger households to break into homeownership."
Dallas-Fort Worth has traditionally had one of the lowest homeownership rates among major U.S. metros. Homeownership reached a recent high of more than 65% in 2010 and has trended lower since. North Texas is the top market in the country for construction of both single-family homes and apartments...
