Inman

Alaska’s home ownership rate surpasses national average

Alaska’s home ownership rate reached an all-time high of 70 percent in 2003, surpassing the national rate of 68.3 percent, according to the latest U.S. Census data.

Alaska’s home ownership rate was higher than the nation’s once previously in 1997. The Census data show Alaska experienced a 13.4 percent increase in home ownership over the previous 10 years, the highest of any state in the nation.

“Low interest rates have had a profound effect on purchases,” said Alaska Housing Finance Corp. CEO/Executive Director Dan Fauske, “and our new programs, including a first-time home buyer program without income or acquisition-cost restrictions and a teachers and nurses housing loan program that provides 100 percent financing, have encouraged many renters to purchase their first home.”

The average sales price of a single-family home in Alaska increased 44 percent from $145,231 to $209,416 between 1994 and 2003, according to a survey conducted for AHFC by the State of Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. AHFC financed the purchase of 37,957 homes during that period.

AHFC is a self-supporting public corporation with offices in 16 communities statewide. It provides statewide financing for multifamily complexes, congregate facilities and single-family homes, with special loan options for low- and moderate-income borrowers, veterans, teachers, nurses, and those living in rural areas of the state.

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