High percentage of U.S. homeowners are mortgage free

One-Third of Homeowners Have No Mortgage

More than 20 million American homeowners own their homes outright free of any sort of mortgage on the property.

About 34.5% of American homeowners aged 20 to 24 owned those properties outright. Real estate agents, in interviews, said these youthful buyers are most likely young millionaires, those with trust funds or those who received help from their parents.

This represents just about one third of all homeowners nationwide, according to a new report from Zillow, a real estate information, sales and mortgage website.
Demographics, home prices and geographical location all seem to play into “free-and-clear” home ownership, according to Zillow’s survey.
Out of the nation’s top 30 housing markets, Pittsburgh, Tampa, New York, Cleveland and Miami had the highest percentage of free-and-clear homeowners. A high number of all-cash, foreign buyers probably plays into New York and Miami. The other cities have relatively low home values, compared to the rest of the nation, making it easier for homeowners to either buy their homes outright or pay off their mortgages more quickly.
The New York metro area had the highest percentage of young, free-and-clear homeowners, with 84.0% of those homeowners owning their properties with no mortgage, according to the Zillow data. The Detroit region had the second-highest percentage of young mortgage-free owners: 53.9%.
Nick Segal, a real estate agent in Beverly Hills, said the trend of young, wealthy homeowners has emerged in recent years as high-end real estate has looked increasingly attractive to buyers who want to park their cash outside of the stock market or the bank.