68% of Americans are Homeowners? Howzat?

[SoDesuKa]

Where did Bush get the figure he's throwing around, that 68% of Americans are homeowners? Since the base figure is obviously not the entire population, what is it? What does this 68% represent? Any guesses?

[BlackVelvetElvis]

1. I wonder if cardboard boxes count? n/t

[bigwillq]

3. Zing..... (nt)

[RC]

19. Yeah, if they own it.

[KG]

2. just another lie from a moron totally incapable of telling the truth

[strategery blunder]

4. because I could have one cent in equity in my home

and be called a "homeowner"

[PA Democrat]

5. But how much equity

do all those "homeowners" have in "their" homes? A lot of people are refinancing their houses to the max just to stay financially solvent.

[burythehatchet]

17. that's how we've financed ourself through the recession.

The checks comin due

[sweetheart]

6. easy peasy...

When a sperm and an egg get together to form a fetus, it lives in
a house called "the womb". This makes 50% of americans homeowners.

Then tack on 18% who have physical houses and you've got it.

(remember, a car is a small house without a bathroom)

;-)

[BabsSong]

7. well, whatever the actual number is he forgot to add that most of them

are in debt up to their asses and as soon as their job is outsourced will be losing their "home on the range". In fact just today I heard that forclosures are at an all time high. Does it count if you only 'own' (really the bank does) your home for 3 months before you can't pay for it????????

[teach1st]

8. It's a number that abounds on the web..

..I found this from HUD, dated 6/5/01

http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr01-052.cfm

Recent Census Bureau data indicates more Americans are homeowners that at any time in the nation's history - more than 72 million Americans own their own home, an increase of over 12 million homeowners since the first quarter of 1990. Minority homeownership, however, continues to lag significantly behind the national average. While nearly 68 percent of Americans own their own home, less than half of African-American and Hispanic families are homeowners.

That the numbers came from a census indicates that these numbers are from the Clinton years. If so, it's possible that there has been no growth in home ownership lately. <EDIT> The rate had risen from something like 67.8 in 2001 to 68.4 in 3rd quarter 2003.

I'll try to dig deeper on how the actual percentage was figured.

[teach1st]

10. Homeownerhsip Rate

Homeownership Rate =

Owner households / Total occupied households

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/hvs/q403def.html

[SoDesuKa]

U.S. Population - 281,421,906

If 68% of the U.S. population owns their own home, there must be 191,366,896 homes.

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0004997.html

[teach1st]

13. 68% of total occupied households

That's not the same as total population, so the number of homes would be lower.

http://www.danter.com/statistics/homeown.htm

According to the page linked to above, there were 108,539,000 occupied households in 2002. Of those, 73,713,000 were owner occupied. According to the forumla, that's about 68%.

[PaDUer]

27. The number of repo's is UP,

the number of auto repo's is up! What's he talking about!!!

[JanMichael]

9. Actually banks are the biggest "homeowners".

:-)

[dogman]

22. Or homeownerowners

[Trajan]

11. Question is ...

HOW many sales were actually DUE to Bush policies ? ...

I know this: ... I lost one house in the early 90's (Bush I) when I lost my job, and THEN the house, which was 'upside down' and unsellable .... (owed more than value) ...

I bought my next house in the mid 90's, when the Clinton economy was HUMMING along ....

Bought another in '99 .. AGAIN during the glorious Clinton years ..

Now ? .. I was laid off last year, and sold my house to capture the gains BEFORE I lost that one too ...

So: .. the question is: .. HOW many of these houses were bought PURELY because Bush did something special ? ..

If anything: .. The fed has NOT lifted rates on behalf of Bush, and the housing market didnt tank because of that ...

He is DAMNED LUCKY Greenspan didnt do the expected ...

[SoDesuKa]

12. Foreclosures at Highest Rate in 30 Years

USA Today is struggling to avoid blaming the economy, but the fact is that foreclosures are at their highest rate in thirty years.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/housing/2002-09-09-foreclosure_x.htm

[teach1st]

14. I think the foreclosure rate is a much more interesting number...

..with suppressed interest rates, it's relatively easy to buy a house right now. With wage drops and job losses, it might not be as easy to hang onto the houses.

[probasco]

15. no rain

dont mean to rain on your parade, but the census dept has those numbers complied from american census. no smoking gun here

[Vickers]

20. Gotta link?

I'd like to see it.

[Skittles]

24. watch it, Vickers

we don't want to "rain on his parade", do we? :o

[Cleita]

16. I own my own home and it has wheels under it.

:-)Seriously, if you don't own the land under it you just have something else the DMV slaps a license on.

[AP]

18. I wonder if they count every member of a family as a homeowner.

So, say, 30% of American households are owned by the occupants, because most rental properties are occupied by a single person or an unmarried couple, and becuse the average family is 4 people, a larger percentage of people live in a home owned by one member of the family.

[AP]

21. Ie, more important stat: what % of homes are owner occupied? 25%? 40%?

And if lots of adult children are moving back home because of economy, is that responsible for all of the growth in Bush's stat in last 3 years?

[leesa]

23. Not for long.

[not systems]

25. He is counting cars.

Most SUV's are as big as the average house two generations ago.

[Yupster]

26. Sounds about right

I guess I don't get it. I'm an investment advisor and the home ownership rate in my city is very high. I'm guessing big cities have lower rates, but 70 % seems a reasonable number to me. In smaller cities and towns it's much higher than that.