The U.S. homeownership rate dropped to 63.4% – about the same level seen in 1967 – at the end of the second quarter, according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
That's down from 63.7% in the first quarter and down from 64.7% in the second quarter of 2014, according to the report.
National vacancy rates in the second quarter were 6.8% for rental housing and 1.8% for homeowner housing, the Census Bureau reports.
The rental vacancy rate of 6.8% was 0.3 percentage points lower than the rate in the first quarter and 0.7 percentage points lower than the rate in the second quarter of 2014.
The homeowner vacancy rate of 1.8% was 0.1 percentage point lower than the rate in the first quarter and 0.1 percentage point lower than the rate in the second quarter of 2014.
Household formation increased during the second quarter, compared to the first quarter. The number of occupied housing units grew, but the growth was all on the renter side. The number of owner-occupied units fell from a year ago.
Interestingly, the only age group that saw its homeownership rate increase was the ‘under 35’ group. All other age brackets saw homeownership rates decrease in the second quarter compared to the first quarter.
People aged 65 and older had the highest homeownership rate, at 78.5%, while people aged 35 and under had the lowest homeownership rate of any age group, at 34.8% (up slightly from 34.6% in the first quarter).
The homeownership rate peaked at 69.2% at the end of 2004.