# The decline of US homeownership

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2016-01-26

architect-this-city, atc, athiscity, charlie-gardner, equity, home-value, homeownership, household, household-real-estate, old-urbanist, real-estate, uncategorized, united-states

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Charlie Gardner (aka the Old Urbanist) recently published an interesting pair of posts ([here](http://oldurbanist.blogspot.ca/2016/01/is-decline-in-homeownership-rate-even.html) and [here](http://oldurbanist.blogspot.ca/2016/01/homeownership-postscript-even-grimmer.html)) about the decline of homeownership in the United States.

What really stood out for me, though, was this chart (showing the percentage of household real estate equity):

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/ec4fae8918ee64fac3a35d616a59abf2.jpg)

And this conclusion:

> _“The implied conclusion here, that a dramatic expansion of debt has been necessary just to maintain the illusion of a stable homeownership rate (setting aside the explosion of debt in the 2000s necessary to support_ [_an increase in homeownership_](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/worldbusiness/21iht-admin.4.18853088.html?_r=0)_), puts an even more negative spin on the figures from the preceding post.  In short, a decline in homeownership has until the past few years been masked by shifting demographics and an increase in household debt.”_  

What I would now be curious to see is the above chart in terms of household equity _value_. Because I wonder to what extent rapidly appreciating home prices (as a result of cheap credit) are having an offsetting affect on declining equity percentages.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/the-decline-of-us-homeownership)*