Recession hits homeowners

Kelley School of Business’s Indiana Business Research Center analyzed the 2010 Census data, released August 3, which shows homeowner rates among younger state residents plummeting.

“These data underscore the toll that the recent housing slump and economic downturn have taken on home ownership,” Matt Kinghorn, the center’s economic research analyst, said in a press release.

“Under normal conditions, we would have expected Indiana’s home ownership rate to rise simply because the state is growing older and homeownership increases with age.”

The state’s homeownership decreased 1.5 percent from 2000 to 2010. For residents under 34, homeownership decreased 3.8 percent.

The recession was even worse for those aged 35 to 54. This age group’s homeownership decreased 4.1 percent.

Kinghorn said the decrease in homeownership is more significant than previously believed.

While homeownership rates decreased, residents living in “group quarters,” which includes jails, college dorms and nursing homes, increased 5 percent from 2000 to 2010.

However, that news isn’t all good, as Indiana’s jail population increased by 14,000 people.

While Indiana family households increased by 72,000 from 2000 to 2010, the number of married two-parent households decreased by 10,000.

Kinghorn said these changes are because of  an increase in single-women-led households and an increase in same-sex couples.

Households with same-sex partners increased 61 percent from 2000 to 2010.

“It is difficult to know how much of the change in same-sex partner households is true growth and how much reflects an increased willingness for couples to report their relationship status,” Kinghorn said.

The new census data also shows Indiana’s minority population is much younger than the state’s caucasian population.

Indiana’s non-Hispanic white population is 8.5 years older than the state’s black population, 9 years older than the Asian population and 15 years older than the Hispanic population.

 — Colleen Sikorski