<p>America&rsquo;s homeownership rate has been declining since 2006, reaching a 51-year-low this spring when it sank to<strong> 62.9%.</strong></p>
<p>That number has since increased to 63.5%, and some economists believe this small rise signals a new era of homeownership. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I think the long slide, which began with the housing bust back 10 years ago, is over,&rdquo; says Moody&rsquo;s Analytics economist Mark Zandi.  ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;For me the big reason to be optimistic is looking at household formation,&rdquo; says Trulia economist Ralph McLaughlin. Of the 1.1 million households formed during the third quarter, nearly half were owners (not renters) and more than 30% were first-time buyers.</p>
<p>Let&rsquo;s keep in mind that today&rsquo;s homeownership rate (63.5%) is just 0.2% higher than it was a year ago (63.7%), and this quarter&#8217;s slight increase isn&rsquo;t statistically significant. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;When you have something that has essentially been in decline for 10 years, one quarter isn&rsquo;t enough to tell me that we are even stabilizing,&rdquo; argues Deutsche Bank economist Joseph LaVorgna.</p>
<p><strong>The mortgage crisis should not have been a surprise. ;</strong></p>
<p>We outlined why the Democratic Party is largely responsible for the housing bust and the resulting financial collapse in a previous article, but in reality neither party should have been surprised. ;</p>
<p>The <em>Community Reinvestment Act</em>, passed in 1977 with heavy support from the Clintons, forced banks to make loans in depressed areas in order to increase homeownership. ;This practice ballooned as time went on and banks were forced to make increasingly risky loans (this is a socialist approach to solving a problem; socialism can never and will never work). ;</p>
<p>Both Republicans and Democrats should have seen what was about to happen: a minor downturn in the economy, a slight upturn in interest rates, a widespread collapse &#8230; ;and now we are at a historic low in homeownership with economists getting excited when rates increase by less than 1%. ;</p>
<p><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:</strong> I don&#8217;t think our politicians have yet learned&#8230;</p>