Stage Properties Brokers LLC<\/a>, tracked quarterly homeownership trends across all 50 states throughout 2024, using the most recent full year of available data.\u00a0<\/p>\nRankings were determined by the share of each state\u2019s population that owned a home in the fourth quarter that year, capturing not only where states ended the year but also how ownership levels shifted over time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In New York\u2019s case, the trajectory was flat to down, reinforcing the state\u2019s long-standing reputation as a renter-heavy market dominated by high prices, limited inventory and dense urban housing stock, particularly in New York City.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe state continues to struggle with property prices that far outpace local income growth, especially in and around New York City,\u201d Ghassan Saliba, CEO of Stage Properties Brokers LLC, told The Post in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cIntense competition in densely populated markets, along with a severe shortage of housing, has made it increasingly difficult for would-be buyers to gain a presence in the housing market,\u201d he said. \u201cAs a result, many residents are remaining in the rental sector for longer, not by choice, but because the financial barriers to ownership are simply too high.\u201d<\/p>\n
The broader Northeast struggled most overall, with Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island also landing among the ten lowest states, reflecting high housing costs, dense urban markets, and long-standing affordability barriers. Wangkun Jia \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
New York was not alone in its struggle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Northeast accounted for a disproportionate share of states at the bottom of the rankings, with Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island also landing among the 10 lowest.<\/p>\n
Massachusetts, for instance, saw one of the steepest drops of any state during the year, while New Jersey experienced notable volatility, peaking midyear before sliding back. The pattern points to a regional challenge, where high land costs, strict zoning and competition from investors have combined to keep ownership rates suppressed.<\/p>\n
North Carolina \u2014 a popular COVID-era destination \u2014 also rounded the top states with the lowest rate of homeownership, with a homeownership rate of just 65.7%.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By contrast, West Virginia topped the list, with 80.5% of residents owning their homes, followed by Midwestern and Southern states where ownership rates routinely exceeded 70%. Christopher Boswell \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
The gap highlights a stark national divide: while homeownership remains attainable and stable in much of the country, New York \u2014 driven largely by New York City\u2019s renter-heavy housing stock \u2014 continues to stand apart as the hardest place in America to own a home. James \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in the country, the picture looked markedly different.\u00a0<\/p>\n
West Virginia topped the national list, with 80.5% of residents owning their homes by the end of 2024 \u2014 meaning more than four in five households were homeowners.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Several Midwestern and Southern states also posted strong showings, with Michigan and Mississippi tied for second place and ownership rates comfortably above 75%.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In those markets, lower housing costs, less population pressure and more abundant single-family housing have helped sustain ownership even amid elevated mortgage rates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Homeownership, long viewed as a cornerstone of American economic security, remains stubbornly out of reach in New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3365,5013,20601,1023,1722,11539,42801,9,24,11,10,49,51,50,1064,1491,564,4753,3006,20103,901,17000],"class_list":["post-90047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-economy","tag-homeowners","tag-interest-rates","tag-luxury-real-estate","tag-markets","tag-massachusetts","tag-mortgage-meltdown","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-north-carolina","tag-real-estate","tag-rent","tag-rentals","tag-residential-real-estate","tag-rhode-island","tag-united-states","tag-west-virginia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}