Mortgage-free America! Share of US homes owned outright rises to an all-time high thanks to ageing boomers paying off their record-low deals
- The number of mortgage-free homes increased by 8M between 2012 to 2022
- Americans that bought houses decades ago are paying off their mortgages
- A third of owner-occupied homes in 2022 were owned by people 65 or older
The share of US homes that are owned outright has increased by 5 percent over ten years to an all-time high.
Last year, almost 40 percent of Americans owned their homes but a decade prior, in 2013, that number was just 34 percent, according to US Census Bureau data cited by Bloomberg.
The trend is being driven by an aging population who enjoyed relatively low mortgage rates and have had opportunities to refinance them as they aged, the outlet reported.
Over the last 30 years mortgage rates gradually fell from around 10 percent in the early 1990s to around 3 percent before the pandemic.
Between 2013 and 2022 the percentage of Americans with full ownership of their homes will increased by around 5 percent
The number of mortgage-free single-family homes increased by 7.9 million between 2012 to 2022
As they continued to drop, the ability to refinance loans made monthly payments cheaper and enabled homeowners to take out increasingly short-term loans which they could pay off sooner.
And between the early 1990s and around 2020 the median sale price of a home in the US almost tripled, according to Census Bureau data.
Higher appraisal on homes also improved the ability to take out favorable new loans.
The number of mortgage-free single-family homes increased by 7.9 million between 2012 to 2022, to 33.3 million, according to the Census Bureau data analyzed by Bloomberg.
And of the 84.6 million owner-occupied homes in 2022, almost 33 percent were owned by people 65 or older.
That was an increase of 4.6-percent, or 2.8 million, from 10 years earlier.
Of the 84.6 million owner-occupied homes in 2022, almost 33 percent were owned by people 65 or older
It comes as younger Americans face one of the most least affordable housing markets in recent memory thanks to soaring mortgage rates and elevated house prices.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage is currently hovering at 7.5 percent, according to Government-backed lender Freddie Mac.
In real terms, it means homeowners face paying more than $1,000 a month extra if they buy today compared to two years ago.
Somebody who acquired a $400,000 home in October 2021 – when rates were 3.09 percent – would pay $1,621 per month on their mortgage assuming they made a 5 percent down payment.
But at today’s rates the same owner would be forced to pay $2,657.
