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Connecticut typically has an above-average rate of homeownership compared to the rest of the country, but the new data found that it is one of two states to show significant declines on that front between 2014 and 2019.
During that time span, the ratio of Connecticut owner-occupied households compared to total households in the state dropped 1.4 percent. The only state with a steeper decline was North Dakota at 2.5 percent.
The largest increases were reported in Wyoming (5.0 percent); Arizona (4.2 percent), Idaho (3.6 percent), Hawaii (3.5 percent), and Nevada (3.0 percent).
“The homeownership rate in the United States, measured as the percentage of the nation’s occupied housing units that are owner-occupied units, has experienced substantial change over the last 15 years,” officials noted.
In both Connecticut and across the country, homeownership rates - a way to measure a state’s economic well-being - have fallen from recent peaks.
While Connecticut saw its decline, nationwide, the ratio rose slightly from 64 percent to 64.1 percent.
“After multiple years of declines in the wake of the Great Recession, the homeownership rate has leveled off and even begun to show signs of a small rebound in recent years,” Census survey statisticians and co-authors Peter Mateyka and Christopher Mazur said.
“However, this national trend may not capture the specific experiences of individual states and counties, which varied in both the size and timing of homeownership rate changes during this period.”
The authors noted that it is unclear what, if any, effect the COVID-19 pandemic will have on similar numbers when data from the Census is released at the end of 2021.
“The effects from the Great Recession and housing market crash were clear, resulting in widespread and long-lasting impacts to households’ abilities to own a home,” they wrote. “While recent years have witnessed an emerging rebound in homeownership, the global COVID-19 pandemic could pose a new challenge.”
The complete report from the U.S. Census Bureau can be found here.
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