Homeownership Rising, Study Says

Lower housing costs and renewed income growth will soon drive U.S. homeownership to an all-time high, according to a study released Wednesday.

Homeownership has been on the rise for most age groups, a reversal of the downward spiral of the 1980s, says the annual Ford Foundation-sponsored study produced by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

Demographic trends, including the aging of the baby boom generation and immigrants’ movement into the economic mainstream, should support strong home-buying potential throughout the rest of the 1990s, the report says.

“Not since the 1950s has single-family demand so dominated the housing market,” said H. James Brown, the center’s director. “The ingredients are in place to lift the national homeownership rate to an all-time high by the year 2000.”