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Examining Military and Veteran Homeownership

As the nation honors the legacy of our military, both those currently serving and those who served before, a newly released study examines trends among military homeownership.

The National Association of REALTORS Research Group has released a new report entitled “Veterans & Active Military Home Buyers Profile.” To give a little perspective, active-duty military make up two percent of all American homebuyers. Veterans make up 17 percent, and 81 percent are non-military.

The average active-duty military homebuyer is quite a bit younger than the average non-military homebuyer—34 years old for active military versus 42 years old for non-military. Active-duty military homebuyers are also more likely to be married, have multiple children living in the household, and purchase a larger home than non-military homebuyers.

Fully half of all active-duty homebuyers are first-time buyers, and 68 percent are first-time sellers. For veterans, 19 percent are first-time buyers and 26 percent are first-time sellers. Among non-military, 35 percent are first-time buyers and 39 percent are first-time sellers.

Active-duty military homebuyers do have a lower median income than non-military buyers at $84,000. However, they do have other advantages—both stable job security and no-down-payment financing options. A full 56 percent of active-duty homebuyers put no money down when purchasing a home, and 41 percent of veterans. For comparison’s sake, only seven percent of non-military buyers are able to make use of no-down-payment financing options.

Among active-duty military who financed their home, 77 percent used a VA loan and 15 percent used a conventional loan. For veterans, 58 percent used a VA loan and 33 percent used a conventional loan.

Among active-duty military asked why they planned to move in the future, 82 percent said they would move in the future because of their job. Thirty-three percent said they would move in order to flip their house, and 11 percent cited finding a better neighborhood as a reason to move.

To read more about the state of military homeownership, click here.

About Author: David Wharton

David Wharton, Editor-in-Chief at the Five Star Institute, is a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington, where he received his B.A. in English and minored in Journalism. Wharton has nearly 20 years' experience in journalism and previously worked at Thomson Reuters, a multinational mass media and information firm, as Associate Content Editor, focusing on producing media content related to tax and accounting principles and government rules and regulations for accounting professionals. Wharton has an extensive and diversified portfolio of freelance material, with published contributions in both online and print media publications. He can be reached at [email protected].
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