Secret #4 – The U.S. Home Ownership Rate Increased the Fastest When Mortgages Were 20 Years Long and Down Payments Were 20%

No, home ownership didn’t increase the fastest right AFTER World War 2. The fastest increase in U.S. home ownership in the 20th century was DURING World War 2 when mortgages were at most 20 years long and down payments were at least 20%. The home ownership rate increased 10 percentage points from 1940 to 1945 – from 43.6% to 53.2% – according to research by Daniel Fetter of Stanford.

My analysis of what happened is here.