High home ownership rates lead to high unemployment, study says
Nov 1, 2013, 5:32 PM
High levels of homeownership are directly related to high unemployment rates, according to a report by Reuters.
After analyzing data reaching back to 1950 across the continental U.S., a Warwick University economics professor found that the lag between ownership levels and unemployment rates can take up to five years to become clear.
But regardless of any delay in results, the data on millions of randomly sampled Americans led to a remarkably clear conclusion: Doubling homeownership in a state can lead to more than a doubling of the jobless rate.
Homeownership can deter people from moving in search of work or accepting a job with a long commute, and homeowners can often oppose new businesses opening in their neighborhoods.
The U.S. has a homeownership rate of 65 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, while the unemployment rate is a little more than 7 percent.
To compare, Spain has a homeownership rate of 80 percent and unemployment of more than 25 percent, while Switzerland has a 30 percent ownership rate and unemployment of just 3 percent.