A look at stories across HousingWire’s weekend desk, with more coverage to come on bigger issues: As they witness a steady flow of new and existing households in and out of the ownership market, housing analysts at Bank of America ($7.73 -0.06%) say the nation’s homeownership rate will decline further. The rate will eventually fall to about 63% and remain there, they say, pulled down by the continued flow of foreclosures. Some 34.6%...

A new survey shows that the tighter economy has prompted more home owners to tackle do-it-yourself house projects — everything from “plumbing, painting, and home cleaning,” according to a new report from Bank of America. Home owners say they used to hire-out for such projects in the past. The survey found that 70 percent of home owners have taken on such improvement jobs to curb housing costs in the last year. The most common DIY...

The rate of U.S. citizens who live in a home they own fell to 65.4 percent in the first quarter, the lowest point 15 years, the Census Bureau reports. The rate is down from 66 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, 66.4 percent in the first quarter of last year, and a high of 69.2 percent in 2004 before the housing bubble popped. Homeownership among Americans aged 35 and younger has declined to the lowest level since 1994, and the rates for...

Many home owners who have no plans to move this year are opting to tackle improvement projects around the house, according to a new survey of 1,500 adults by American Express Spending and Saving Tracker. Seventy percent of home owners surveyed say they intend to take on a home improvement project this year, and they plan to spend about $3,500 on sprucing up their home, according to the survey. That’s an increase of about $100 compared to...

Home values may be down nationwide, but the majority of Americans surveyed by Fannie Mae in the fourth quarter still prefer homeownership as opposed to renting. Fannie released its quarterly national housing survey Tuesday morning after interviewing 3,000 Americans between the months of October and December. Two-thirds of renters surveyed said they hope to buy a home in the future — a trend that subsists across all education levels and...