NAR Examines Homeownership Rates by State

While the national homeownership rate sat at a disappointing 65 percent as of the end of 2013's second quarter, data collected and published by the ""National Association of Realtors"":http://www.realtor.org/ (NAR) shows local market conditions have created a huge gap between state homeownership figures.

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In a blog for the association, Ken Fears, NAR's manager of regional economics and housing finance policy, notes that the dispersion of homeownership rates ranges equally around the national average, with the top state--West Virginia--coming in 11.2 points above, and the bottom state--New York--pulling in 11.2 points below average. (While New York ranked bottom among the 50 states, the District of Columbia actually claimed the lowest homeownership rate at 45.3 percent.)

Joining Washington, D.C., and New York at the bottom were California (with a rate of 54.0 percent), Nevada (56.2 percent), and Hawaii (56.7 percent).

""Affordability has a strong impact on homeownership,"" Fears wrote. ""Not surprisingly, four of five states with the lowest homeownership rates in the US are characterized by markets with high prices.""

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Michigan (74.9 percent), New Hampshire (74.2 percent), Delaware (73.8 percent), and Maine (73.3 percent) round out the top five states with highest homeownership rates. Unsurprisingly, Fears said, they also rank among the highest when it comes to affordability.