Aug 27, 2019

Chart of the Week: Who's Buying Homes These Days?

From WSJ:

This chart measures the percentage of home buyers by age from 2006-2018 and demonstrates the seismic impact left by the Great Recession.

Questions:

  • Do you hope to own a house someday? When do you hope to be able to buy it? 
  • What would be a good headline to summarize the data in the chart?
  • In what year does there appear to be the most dramatic change in the data?
  • Based on the chart, what age group has seen the largest decline in home purchases? What are some possible explanations?

Behind the numbers (WSJ)

For generations, the wealth of U.S. households was built on the foundation of homeownership. That is changing.

Homeownership rates for younger Americans have fallen sharply over the last decade. The median age of a home buyer is 46, the oldest since the National Association of Realtors began keeping records in 1981. Economists, policy makers and mortgage lenders expect the trend to extend to younger generations. The decline illustrates what for many Americans is the real legacy of the financial crisis.

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Looking for charts and graphs for your students to analyze? Be sure to check out NGPF Data Crunches which are one page worksheets that build student skills on reading graphs and interpreting data. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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