Leasing an apartment Versus owning a house
“The most tangible cornerstone that lies at the heart of the American Dream, at the heart of middle-class life,” Barack Obama declared in a speech this summer, is “the chance to own your own home.”
Politicians and pundits across the spectrum regard homeownership both as the best investment a family can make and a measure of national prosperity. But a significant majority of Americans believe differently. According to a 2012 Pew survey, 86 percent of Americans now believe the key to a middle-class life is a “secure job,” almost double the share (45 percent) who say the same about owning their home. To compare, seven out of ten respondents to a Time/CNN/Yankelovich survey back in 1991 said that homeownership was essential to middle class membership, while just one-third said that a white-collar job was required. Since 2004, the overall rate of homeownership in the U.S. has declined from 69.2 percent to 65 percent.
To help us better understand just how much we should — or shouldn’t — lament the shift away from homeownership, my colleagues at the Martin Prosperity Institute and I took a closer look at the relationship between homeownership levels and the overall economic health. And what we found should make the President and politicians rethink their pro-homeownership stance.
