Colorado experienced a sizable drop in the rate of homeownership as the recession deepened, with an almost 2 percentage-point decline from 2007 to 2009, according to U.S. census data released Tuesday.
Of the 1.9 million occupied homes last year, 67 percent were lived in by the owners, down from 68.8 percent in 2007.
“That’s actually a fairly significant drop,” said Ryan McMaken of the Colorado Division of Housing. “It’s not easy to add a percentage of homeownership rate, so if you’re going to drop 2 percent in two years, it’s significant.”
He said foreclosures, job losses and difficulty financing a purchase are contributing to the drop.
“We continue to add people to the population, but more are going into renting now than into owning,” McMaken said. “Buying a home is just relatively less attractive. You’re not able to sustain the number of people who are getting into homeownership as quickly as they were in ’06 and ’07.”
As the vacancy rate for owner-occupied housing increased, the vacancy for rental property dropped from 8.4 percent in 2006 to 8 percent last year.
Median rents have increased from $825 a month in 2006 to $851 last year, with 27.5 percent ranging from $500 to $749 a month.
The average household size was 2.64, up from 2.62 in 2006.
“The slight increase in the average household size reflects a tougher economy, more kids moving back home with Mom and Dad, and more people doubling up on homes to save on expenses,” said economist Jeff Thredgold of Vectra Bank Colorado.
The state has a total of 2.2 million housing units, with a vacancy rate of 11.9 percent, up from 11.8 percent in 2006 and 8.29 percent in 2000. That means the empty units are for sale, for rent, foreclosed on or abandoned. The state added 72,667 housing units from 2006 to 2009.
“It’s consistent with a housing economy that did not get carried away,” Thredgold said. “You have a modest number of additional units, which suggests that new-home construction did not get totally carried away like it did in California, Arizona and Nevada.”
The 2009 median price of a home in the Denver area was $237,800, down from $247,800 in 2006.
Homes valued between $200,000 and $299,999 account for 28.9 percent of the housing stock, down from 30.1 percent in 2006. The number of homes valued at $1 million and up increased from 2 percent in 2006 to 2.4 percent last year.
“Even though the median price is showing a $10,000 drop over four years, it hasn’t dropped as dramatically as all of the other markets,” said real estate analyst Gary Bauer. “These are not surprising trends, and they’ve been projected for the last four or five months.”
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
