Homeownership is down in Nebraska this year, and has steadily declined since 2008.
David Drozd, Research Coordinator for UNO’S Center for Public Affairs Research, says you would have to look at homeownership levels from the 1960s to find a lower level.
The information is obtained from this year’s Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which Drozd says is useful for looking at current trends since it is updated every year.
He says the drop can be attributed to several different factors, including the fact that Nebraska has a large share of millennials living here, and their home ownership levels tend to be low.
"Additionally, you have rates going down across the board from some of the spillover effects from the recession and the tightening in lending standards as well as people being a little scared to get back into the homeowner market after seeing values decline so much. Other people might not have the income they had several years ago to be able to afford the residence.”
Drozd says Nebraska also has a rising minority population and their home ownership rates are much lower than among whites.
He says even though Nebraska has had this drop in home ownership, our decline compared to other states is still relatively low.