The Social Benefits of Home Ownership

According to a National Association of Realtors blog post some of the documented social benefits of homeownership include:

• Increased charitable activity
• Civic participation in both local community and national issues (including voting)
• Greater awareness of the political process
• Higher incidence of membership in voluntary organizations and church attendance
• Greater social capital generated
• Greater attachment to the neighborhood and neighbors
• Lower teen pregnancy by children’s living in owned homes
• Higher student test scores by children’s living in owned homes
• Higher rate of high school graduation thereby higher earnings
• Children more likely to participate in organized activities and have less television screen time
• Homeowners take on a greater responsibility such as home maintenance and acquiring the financial skills to handle mortgage payments and those skills transfer to their children
• Lower teenage delinquencies
• General increase in positive outlook to life
• Homeowners reported higher life satisfaction, higher self-esteem, happiness, and higher perceived control over their lives
• Better health outcomes, better physical and psychological health
• Tremendous wealth gains for homeowners under normal housing market conditions (outside of the terrible bubble/bust housing years)
• Homeowners not only experience a significant increase in housing satisfaction, but also obtain a higher satisfaction even in the same home in which they resided as renters
• Family financial situation and housing tenure during childhood and adulthood, impacted one’s self-rated health (in particular, the socioeconomic disadvantaged indicated by not being able to save any money or not owning or purchasing a home are less likely to self-rate their health as excellent or very good).
• Less likely to become crime victims
• Homeowners better maintain their homes, and high quality structures also raise mental health -renter-occupied housing appreciates less than owner-occupied housing
• Housing prices are higher in high-ownership neighborhoods
• Maintenance behavior of individual homeowners is influenced by those of their neighbors

Wow! Home ownership does matter and helps us all become better members of our community!

Link to NAR Blog here