Our government spends an inordinate amount of time trying to convince its citizens that the American dream must include home ownership of some sort and has made it government policy in the past, as well as presently, to support this endeavor. Unfortunately, as the home ownership percentage rate in America reached 69% in 2004, the qualifications for home buyers became more and more suspect, leading eventually to the housing market collapse which we suffered through and the ultimate disenfranchisement of millions of Americans from the American dream, as well as the collapse of the subprime financial markets resulting in the lost of trillions of dollars.
What would amaze most people is the fact that the United States, which prides itself as being the best and brightest when it comes to just about everything, does not even come close to having the highest percentage of home ownership throughout the world, in fact, it isn't even close. According to Wikipedia, countries such as Romania, Slovakia, and Lithuania have home ownership rates above 90%, while countries such as China and India are at above 85%, and even the much maligned Greece has a home ownership rate of 75%. On the surface, this information seems to be completely unbelievable, and at the same time, it is also incredibly intriguing.
The first thing that we can take away from these home ownership rates is the fact that clearly the richest countries in the world do not have the highest percentage of home owners. In fact, the top three countries in private home ownership are all formerly communist nations. This would imply strongly that when these countries became republics or similar, that the previously state-owned housing stock was sold to the people at prices that were below what the free market would have demanded and in all probability with very favorable loan terms to the buyers. While on the one hand, this unquestionably appears to be a great deal for those that bought these homes at fire-sale prices, there must also be the recognition that once one becomes the owner of any property, that ownership entails the upkeep of said property which can include unanticipated expenses for that upkeep, to which the owner may not have the necessary funds to properly attend to.
This then leads to the point that one of the reasons why home ownership in America has hit a ceiling and seems to be stuck at the present mid 60s percentage range is that the cost of owning a home is just too much of a financial stretch for too many Americans who clearly cannot afford to buy any property no matter the price, because their assets and earnings or lack thereof, precludes them from doing so. Additionally, a home is not liquid, it is neither something that can move should your job necessitate a move, nor is it something that can be sold at a good price, when time factors are against you.
Clearly, when taking a look at home ownership rates by country, we can conclude that home ownership rates do not correlate well with the wealth or health of the nation, which might seem surprising, given that owning a home is often seen as precursor to having "skin in the game". However, common sense dictates that if you don't have the money or consistent employment to purchase a home, than you shouldn't, because home ownership entails a responsibility that not all can afford.