{"id":2070,"date":"2018-02-08T11:00:48","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T11:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thezakariagroup.com\/homeownership-the-reports-of-my-death-have-been-greatly-exaggerated\/"},"modified":"2018-02-08T11:00:48","modified_gmt":"2018-02-08T11:00:48","slug":"homeownership-the-reports-of-my-death-have-been-greatly-exaggerated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thezakariagroup.com\/homeownership-the-reports-of-my-death-have-been-greatly-exaggerated\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeownership: \u201cThe Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Homeownership: \"The Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated\" | Simplifying The Market<\/p>\n

The famous quote by Mark Twain in the title of this article can be used to describe homeownership in America today. Last week, the Census<\/em> revealed<\/a> that the percentage of homeowners in the country increased for the first time in thirteen years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Homeownership: \"The Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated\" | Simplifying The Market<\/a><\/p>\n

A story<\/a> in the Wall Street Journal <\/em>gave these new homeownership numbers some context:<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe annual increase marks a crucial turning point because it comes after the federal government reined in bubble-era policies that encouraged banks to ease lending standards to boost homeownership. This time, what\u2019s driving the market is a shift in favor of owning rather than renting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018This is market, market and market\u2026There\u2019s no government incentive program in sight that is having this effect,\u2019 <\/em>said Susan Wachter, a professor of real estate and finance at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, \u2018This is back to basics.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In a separate report<\/a> comparing the rental population in America to the homeowner population, RentCaf\u00e9<\/em> also concluded that the gap is now shrinking.<\/p>\n

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\u201cUndoubtedly, the recession had a great impact on homeownership\u2026However, it looks like it takes more to discourage Americans from buying a house than that.<\/em><\/p>\n

As the years go by, it seems more and more certain that the fact that renting has seen a sudden gain in popularity is more a reaction to the economic crisis than a paradigm shift in the Americans\u2019 attitude toward housing.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

America\u2019s belief in homeownership was also evidenced in a recent survey<\/a> by Pew Research<\/em>. They asked consumers \u201cHow important is homeownership to achieving the American Dream?\u201d<\/p>\n

The results:<\/p>\n