Homeownerships Reach Record High

The United States now has more homeowners -- 73.4 million -- than at
any time in history. According to Census Bureau second quarter data, the
new record homeownership rate is 69.2 percent, breaking the previous
record of 68.6 percent. That means about 783,000 more people owned a
home in the second quarter of 2004 than in the first quarter. And compared
to the second quarter of 2003, the number of homeowners increased by
almost 1.7 million. Minority homeownership also set a new record with an
increase of 0.2 percent in the second quarter, though at 51.0 percent, the
numbers still lag figures for the population as a whole. "These numbers …
show that housing still leads the way in our rapidly recovering economy,"
says HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson.