Analysis of the Changing Influences on Traditional Households' Ownership Patterns

Sociological and economic forces have begun to alter ownership patterns in ways not yet captured by movements in the aggregate ownership rate. While demographic factors such as marital status and family structure remain influential in determining tenure choice, their impact has waned, particularly among the best educated households and those with rising real incomes. Labor market conditions, as evidenced by increasing returns to skill, are more strongly felt than ever before in the housing market. The impact on owning of being highly educated now rivals the influence of being married with minor children. Increasingly delayed ownership is a reality, even for traditional family units with 36- to 45-year-old heads that have not prospered in the labor market. The rising real cost of even relatively inexpensive suburban housing is also beginning to be reflected in a heightened impact for real family income on tenure choice. Finally, race currently is more adversely influential in determining suburban ownership for young, middle-aged minority families than it was in 1960, particularly if the household head is not well educated. We suspect this is due to racially disparate impacts of increasingly rigorous zoning regulations and higher impact fees in the suburbs.