The coronavirus pandemic may have ballooned Southern California homeownership’s geographic divide to a level not seen in 16 or more years.
New Census Bureau stats on who owns the home they live in shows ownership at a 12-year high in the Inland Empire while still running at a national low in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
In Riverside and San Bernardino counties, 67.8% of households lived in a residence they owned in the second quarter — highest since 2008’s second quarter. While that ranked No. 43 among the 75 big metropolitan areas tracked by the bureau, it was up sharply from 62% in 2020’s first quarter and 62.6% a year earlier.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles and Orange counties, renters still dominate. Only 48.3% of households lived in a residence they owned in the April-to-June period. That’s the third-straight quarter L.A.-O.C. has been the nation’s low for ownership as the rate fell from 48.8% in the previous quarter but is up from 46.5% a year earlier.
