June is Homeownership Month, a time for proclamations and press releases about why homeownership matters. At Housing Affordability Institute, it’s a reminder of our mission to provide policy solutions to advance homeownership.
In the United States today, the homeownership rate hovers near the same level as 30 years ago (65.2% in 2025, compared to 65.4% in 1996). Yet this century and in the first half of this decade, homeownership is trending down, peaking at 69% in 2004 and a post-Great Recession high of 66.6% in 2020.
Other than a bump during the low-rate pandemic era, homeownership is on the decline. And that brings our mission and emphasis on homeownership to the forefront of our minds.
Why Homeownership Matters
While affordability dominates today’s housing conversation, it is worth remembering why homeownership matters in the first place.
Our 2025 Report, Homeownership’s Enduring Value, highlights why homeownership matters and why homeownership must be protected.
- Homeownership brings financial stability and serves as a safeguard against inflation, as mortgage payments typically remain stable, whereas rents often increase alongside inflation.
- Homeownership is the leading source of wealth creation in America and continues to improve the economic prosperity of Americans.
- Homeownership leads to improved health and educational outcomes.
- Homeownership builds communities and drives economic growth for local communities, both during development and beyond.
Growing Barriers to Homeownership
Despite its multitude of benefits, homeownership is becoming harder to attain.
Rising costs, limited supply, regulatory barriers, and years of underproduction have pushed ownership farther out of reach. First-time buyers are entering the market later in life, with the most recent data from the National Association of Realtors showing the average first-time buyer is now 40.
Emblematic of the K-shaped economy of recent years, first-time homebuyers represent just 21% of all buyers, an all-time low. Existing homeowners have benefited from years of home price appreciation, while many younger households find themselves increasingly locked out of ownership opportunities.
Left unaddressed, markets can become stuck in a self-reinforcing cycle of declining homeownership.
Homeownership is becoming so hard to attain that many Gen Zers feel they’ll never achieve the American Dream.
Protecting Homeownership for Future Generations
Homeownership has not lost its appeal or value; the problem is that access to it has diminished. Every year of delay reduces the amount of time families have to build equity and wealth.
Given the dual nature of the housing crisis, nearly two years of underproduction and new housing costs growing faster than incomes, it’s clear that there is not one single solution to the housing crisis. Action is needed on all fronts.
First and foremost is land use reform, which means allowing more home options, streamlined approvals, and increased density. Alongside land use barriers are major affordability barriers, which differ from market to market. It also means an eye on the future. Now is the worst time to create more barriers to housing production, whether it is a procedural barrier, a cost barrier, or both.
If homeownership is to remain America’s most effective pathway to economic mobility, then expanding access to it should remain one of our most important policy priorities.
