This report gives a detailed analysis of the United States’ housing market, demographic drivers, homeownership, rental housing, and housing challenges for 2019.

Key findings

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Despite a strong economy since the financial crisis, housing production has not returned to a normal pace.

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“Since 1974, annual additions to the housing supply exceeded household growth by an average of 30 percent to accommodate replacement of older housing, additional demand for second homes, population shifts across markets, and some slack for normal vacancies.”

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“After falling for 12 consecutive years, the US homeownership rate edged up in both 2017 and 2018, to 64.4 percent. Although last year’s increase was just 0.5 percentage point, this translates into a 1.6 million jump in the number of homeowners, bringing growth since 2016 to 2.8 million. The largest increase was among households in the key age group of 25–39, whose homeownership rate was up by 2.0 percentage points or some 1.1 million owners in 2016–2018.”

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“According to the Housing Vacancy Survey, the number of renter households fell again in 2018. Although down by just 239,000 over two years, even this modest dip is in stark contrast to average annual increases of nearly 850,000 renter households in the preceding 12 years. The declines were widespread, with 31 states losing renters from 2015 to 2017.”

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