| January
25, 2006
Study
Finds McHenry, Will Counties Lead Nation in Homeownership
Two of Chicago's
collar counties -- McHenry and Will — lead the nation in homeownership
rates, according to a report by University of Illinois at Chicago researchers.
Owner-occupied units make up 85 and 84 percent, respectively, of housing in these
counties, compared to a national average of 69 percent.
The other three collar counties — Lake, Kane and DuPage — ranked
19, 21 and 29 among 230 counties nationally for which data were available.
Cook County, the metropolitan core, ranked at only 188, with 61 percent owner-occupied
units. Other large urban counties had similar rankings.
Such widespread homeownership in outlying areas implies that sprawl is caused
by low land prices and growing prosperity rather than by highway expansion, according
to Siim Soot, director emeritus of UIC's Urban Transportation Center, and Joseph
DiJohn, director of the Metropolitan Transportation Support Initiative at the
center.
The researchers base their conclusions primarily on two observations:
- First-time buyers frequently choose space over a convenient commute.
Land in Will and McHenry counties is cheaper than elsewhere in the metropolitan
area, so developers tend to build larger homes there. Accordingly, the
county has attracted more buyers despite the likelihood of a longer
commute.
- Commuters may drive less than policy makers expect. Will is the only
Chicago-area county where more residents work outside than inside their
home county. McHenry
has the second-highest outflow of workers. These data suggest that counties
where jobs are plentiful have higher land costs, and therefore fewer
homebuyers.
The report notes
that Chicago is one of the few metropolitan areas that achieved a double-digit
increase in homeownership rates over the past 13 years.
"Twenty years ago, the Chicago area was more typical of large metropolitan
areas, with homeownership rates in the 50s," Soot said. "Letting the
region grow has opened homeownership to more households as incomes have risen
and housing costs remained relatively low."
The researchers predict that homeownership soon will level off. Land consumption
no longer outpaces population growth, perhaps because much of the housing market
has been served, Soot said.
"There was a
dramatic increase in land consumed nationally by sprawl during the
1970s and 1980s," Soot said. "Urban land grew
by about 35 percent despite a population growth of only 4 percent.
Now it's more in line with population growth of about 11 percent per
decade."
UIC ranks among the nation's top 50 universities in federal research funding
and is Chicago's largest university with 25,000 students, 12,000 faculty and
staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of
the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students
and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners
in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas
around the world. For more information about UIC, visit www.uic.edu
- UIC - |
