A significant number of renters may prefer to keep renting well into the future, according to Daren Blomquist, vice president for the real estate data firm RealtyTrac.

“When you consider the number of people whose very formative years were during the Great Recession and they saw what their parents went through in regards to the house, they may not feel the same about homeownership,” Blomquist said.

Blomquist visited Washington Thursday to meet with representatives of HopeNow, a consortium of lenders, credit counselors and government agencies formed in the wake of the housing crisis to help underwater homeowners remain in their homes, and took part in a sit-down interview with CU Times afterwards.

He reported HopeNow remains in operation, but noted the organization once drew around 1,500 people to its mortgage resolution events and now only sees around 250 to 300. Rising home prices in many communities have helped a lot of people regain equity in their homes, he observed.

Blomquist, who, at age 39, remains decidedly old school by carrying a spiral bound notebook for taking notes and recording action items, denied his firm promoted or supported homeownership per se.

“We collect real estate data and there are Realtors advertising on our site,” he said. “But we're not Realtors ourselves and we don't take a positon on homeownership.”

With that in mind, Blomquist said the company has begun to see signs of a homeownership uptick following a record low point. The U.S. Census Bureau reported homeownership, as of June 30, 2015, fell to 63.7%, its lowest level since 1967.

“We have started to see higher rates of home ownership among millennials, those in their mid-20s, and some other age brackets have begun to show higher rates of homeownership as well,” he said. “So we think it may be coming back.”

He also observed the rates of mortgage loan originations with Federal Housing Administration insurance have begun to rise, adding that he tends to equate FHA-insured borrowers with first-time borrowers.

Blomquist also noted homeownership is likely to come back the strongest in places with a significant percentage of people in their mid-20s to mid-30s and a strong job market.

“That's what helps drive a strong market for first time home buyers, jobs and people in the market for homes,” he said.

Instant Insights /

Housing Market Continues to Lag: Blomquist

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