For the first time since 2016, America’s homeownership rate has tipped into negative territory, signaling a subtle but profound shift in the nation’s housing dynamics, Redfin reports in its new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. In the second quarter of 2025, the number of U.S. homeowner households fell ever so slightly, by 0.1% year over year to 86.2 million, while renter households surged by 2.6% to 46.4 million—one of the largest increases in recent memory. It shows the inevitable result of the long flatline in the housing market as mortgage rates more than doubled between January 2021 and October 2023.
Redfin puts it bluntly: America’s homeowner population has stopped growing. Chen Zhao, Redfin’s head of economics research, attributes this to “rising home prices, high mortgage rates, and economic uncertainty, [which] have made it increasingly difficult to own a home.” Zhao also noted secular shifts in the economy that may be playing a role. “People are also getting married and starting families later, which means they’re buying homes later—another factor that may be at play.”
