New Market Realities
...the national
homeownership
rate stands at
63.9 percent,
more than five
percentage points
below its high
in 2004 and
comparable to the
rate that existed
between 1965
and 1995.
80
Motivated by an understandable desire to
expand the benefits of homeownership to a
wider segment of the U.S. population, both
President Bill Clinton and President George
W. Bush made increasing the percentage of
homeowner households a high priority of
their administrations. Policies such as federally–supported down payment assistance for
first-time homebuyers and a strengthening
of the affordable housing goals for Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac were designed to
expand the opportunity for homeownership
to lower- and moderate-income families.
These policies, combined with a favorable
low-interest rate environment as well as
other factors (including the emergence of
“subprime” mortgage products), led to the
addition of millions of American families to
the homeownership ranks. In fact, by the
second quarter of 2004, the national homeownership rate had reached an historic high
– 69.4 percent – and some observers were
contemplating a rate that would soon hit 70
percent. During this period, the homeownership rates for minority households soared:
By the second quarter of 2004, the rate for
African-Americans set a new record – 49.7
percent – and one year later in 2005 the rate
for Hispanic households reached 50 percent
for the first time ever.
Wi Ѡ