By Cheryl Russell, American Consumers Newsletter

The nation's homeownership rate increased to 63.9% in 2017, according to the Census Bureau's Housing Vacancy Survey. This was 0.5 percentage points higher than the post-Great Recession low of 63.4% recorded in 2016. Despite the increase, the 2017 homeownership rate still ranks among the lowest since the Census Bureau created the data series in 1982. But it is significantly higher than in 2016 and the first increase in more than a decade – since the homeownership rate peaked in 2004. Could it be the start of a trend?

Homeownership Rate

2017: 63.9%
2016: 63.4% (post Great Recession low)
2015: 63.7%
2010: 66.9%
2004: 69.0% (all-time high)
2000: 67.4%
1990: 63.9%
1982: 64.8%