In 2024, the Research Institute for Housing America (RIHA) published data which found that older Americans are remaining in their homes longer. Over the past decade, the homeownership rate among adults aged 70 and older has increased substantially. According to the 2024 American Community Survey, homeowners aged 55 and older owned 55 percent of all owner-occupied homes in the United States, with more than one-third owned by households headed by someone age 65 or older.
Tag: Edward Seiler
MBA Releases New White Paper Examining How Demographic Trends Will Affect Housing Demand
For more than a decade, policymakers, researchers, and industry stakeholders have focused on addressing a persistent shortage of housing in the United States. However, changing demographic and market conditions suggest that the housing landscape may look markedly different in the years ahead. This is according to a new white paper released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) examining recent and emerging shifts in U.S. housing demand and supply.
Chart of the Week: Homeownership by Country
In a forthcoming MBA White Paper, “Implications of a Persistent Slowing in Housing Demand,” MBA’s Research and Economics team examines, among other topics, homeownership rates in the United States by age and by race and ethnicity. The overall homeownership rate stood at 65.3% in the first quarter of 2026, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Chart of the Week: Homeownership Rates by Age, Race and Ethnicity
In this week’s MBA Chart of the Week, we examine the homeownership rate by household age as well as by race and ethnicity.
Mortgage Application Payments Decrease in August
Homebuyer affordability improved in August, with the national median payment applied for by purchase applicants decreasing to $2,100 from $2,127 in August, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Purchase Applications Payment Index.
Chart of the Week: FOMC Summary of Economic Projections for Fed Funds Rate
Each quarter, members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) submit their projections for various economic measures (i.e., real gross domestic product growth, the unemployment rate, inflation, and the federal funds rate). This month’s projections, shown in the Summary of Economic Projections (SEP), include 2028 for the first time.
MBA Chart of the Week: Taxonomy of Mortgage Default
Recently, the Research Institute for Housing America (RIHA), MBA’s think tank, released a special report, Mortgage Design, Underwriting, and Interventions: Promoting Sustainable Homeownership, that looks at the lessons learned from the Great Financial Crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, and other past episodes of default, to understand how to design a more robust mortgage system that proactively supports sustainable homeownership.
MBA RIHA: Mortgage Industry Should Develop New Intervention Policies for Distressed Borrowers
According to a new research report released by the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Research Institute for Housing America (RIHA), examining current mortgage design models, underwriting standards, and intervention policies would help alleviate market pressures resulting from high levels of mortgage defaults.
MBA Chart of the Week: Climate, Sustainability and Real Estate Finance
With Earth Day happening this month, it seems an opportune time to discuss the intersection of climate/sustainability issues and real estate finance. MBA has been leading on these issues for more than half a decade, helping members through our work related to research, policy and practice.
MBA: Mortgage Application Payments Increased Slightly to $2,170 in August
Homebuyer affordability declined in August with the national median payment applied for by purchase applicants increasing to $2,170 from 2,162 in July according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Purchase Applications Payment Index.