US homeownership rate is lower than headline number, Fed research finds
Minneapolis Fed researchers say 53% of adults own homes, not the 65% rate often cited, because the usual Census measure counts households.
By Deshawn Carter · Sports Writer
3 min read
The US homeownership rate looks a lot smaller when the count is based on people instead of houses. New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis says only about 53% of American adults own a home, well below the roughly 65% figure often used in housing coverage and policy debates.
The gap comes down to what is being counted. The U.S. Census Bureau’s familiar homeownership rate measures the share of occupied housing units where the owner lives in the home. The Minneapolis Fed’s measure, called the homeowners-to-population ratio, or HPOP, counts the share of adults who actually own a home.
That difference is not a technical footnote. It changes the picture of who has access to ownership in a market where prices have squeezed many would-be buyers.
What is the real US homeownership rate?
According to the Minneapolis Fed research, about 53% of U.S. adults own homes. The often-cited Census rate of about 65% describes owner-occupied homes, rather than the percentage of adults who personally own property.
The researchers give a simple example: a married couple owns a house, and their adult son lives with them. Under the Census measure, the home is counted as owner-occupied, even though the son does not own it.
The Minneapolis Fed researchers said about 14% of U.S. adults live in owner-occupied homes without owning the property themselves. That group can include adult children living with parents, parents or siblings living with adult relatives, or people living with a roommate who owns the home.
Erik Hembre, a senior economist at the Minneapolis Fed and a co-author of the report, told CBS News that the distinction matters because many people hear the traditional rate as meaning that roughly two-thirds of adults are homeowners. Hembre said that reading is not factually correct.
Why the Fed’s HPOP measure changes the housing picture
Hembre told CBS News that policies can be poorly designed if officials are responding to the wrong measurement. The HPOP figure separates two related ideas: how many homes are occupied by owners, and how many adults actually own homes.
Francesco D’Acunto, a Georgetown University real estate professor who was not involved in the paper, told CBS News the new measure highlights how difficult buying a home has become. He said HPOP makes the affordability problem look more pronounced than the traditional rate suggested.
The Minneapolis Fed research found that actual adult homeownership is lower than the commonly cited owner-occupancy rate in every state. The lowest HPOP readings appear in states with expensive housing markets, according to the findings.
California shows the divide clearly. The state’s HPOP is 41.2%, compared with an owner-occupancy rate of 55.9%, according to the Minneapolis Fed figures cited by CBS News.
New York shows a similar split. The research puts adult homeownership there at 43.3%, while 54.3% of New Yorkers live in owner-occupied housing.
The result is a sharper count of who owns a stake in America’s housing market. By the Minneapolis Fed’s measure, more than one in eight adults may live under an owner-occupied roof without holding the deed.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.