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40% of owner-occupied homes in USA are mortgage free

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
I'll admit that mine is NOT one of those mortgage free properties. I actually have 2 properties side by side. One is mortgage free. The other has a modest 5 digit mortgage, at 2.35% interest. Given the low interest rate, I actually have no real desire to pay that loan off now. Seems like cheap money to me. But my situation aside, it looks like the Baby Boomer generation is leading the way on full home ownership without a mortgage.

Glad to see this number is actually increasing. We need more home owners. Having a home owned mortgage free, by the home owner, is even better. So seeing this number climb is a great thing.

But given the current interest rates, that may come crashing down as people struggle to pay high mortgages or are forced to downsize to far more modest home sizes to afford anything.
Thanks to the DailyMail for this breakdown:

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 | Daily Mail Online​

17:21 EST, 17 November 2023
  • 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
By Neirin Gray Desai Consumer Reporter For Dailymail.Com

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

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

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

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.
 
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paid mine off last year and the cabin was a cash deal. Still I worry going into retirement in less than 2 years.
 
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