Homeownership rate to hold steady in 2021

An improvement in the share of in-person interviews in the fourth quarter HVS survey helped bring the homeownership rate back down from its recent implausible highs. And, with home sales set to slow this year, we expect it will stay close to 65.5% over the next year. Meanwhile the counter-intuitive surge in median asking rents looks to reflect the movement of wealthy households out of cities. As that trend begins to reverse this year, we expect median asking rents will fall back from $1,200 to around $1,000.