As the economy continues to struggle, it’s obvious that its effects have hit housing, as much as, any other sector. The sad truth—Louisville homeownership rates are in decline.
This piece of news from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) addresses this trend nationally.
U.S. home ownership rates remained at 65.1 percent in the third quarter, holding at its lowest level since 1995, the Commerce Department reports. Some economists are blaming the low rate on first-time home buyers being squeezed out of home ownership.
So I went in search of Louisville-specific homeownership data.
I was briefly excited to find this page on the Census.org website called AHS 2011 Metropolitan Summary Tables only to be disappointed to learn that Louisville, KY was left out. (Cincinnati and Indy made the cut but apparently Nashville isn’t large enough. Strange.)
Louisville Home Ownership Rates
Determined, I kept searching. (Don’t forget organizations, SEO matters!)
Finally found our own Metropolitan Housing Coalition who’s been creating reports since 2003. According to MHC, the Louisville homeownership percentage for our city was 68.6% in 2003.
In their most recent report, that number is down to 63%.
Dropping 5% in 10 years is a bit staggering. A portion can be attributed to a more transient population making it more financially smart to rent. But, I believe that the bulk of blame should be laid on the shoulders of our governments’ ever-increasing appetite for our income and lack of will to promote free markets.
Time after time Surveys continue to show that the vast majority of Americans desire to own their own homes but given that the true percentage is much lower, shows that they are not financially capable.
