Most Californians Don't Own A Home Until Late 40s, Analysis Finds

Half of Californians don’t own a home until they’re 47, according to a recent analysis from the Public Policy Institute of California.

The institute used data from the American Community Survey to track homeownership rates by age and found that the age at which half of the Golden State’s residents own a home is a full decade later than in the rest of the U.S., where the age is 37.

The age when homeownership becomes typical has steadily increased over the past 15 years in California, along with the state’s rising ownership costs, according to the institute.

“The rising age of homeownership carries tangible consequences for retirement security and wealth building, and goes to the heart of the state’s affordability crisis,” the institute said in a blog post earlier this month.

“Homeownership remains the single largest source of wealth for middle-income families; pushing that milestone a decade later means much less time to build equity before retirement.”

Californians who are white, Asian or have a bachelor’s degree reach the homeownership milestone earlier, according to the analysis.

The state’s homeownership rate of 56 percent is far lower than the rest of the country’s 66 percent, with only New York at 54 percent coming in below California, the institute reported.

Read the analysis here.