Unusual metric has uncovered some interesting trends
The many analysts and researchers who study home finance generally focus on numbers, people, locations, and economics; pets are rarely considered important.
But a new analysis of data from the American Housing Survey by the Urban Institute has revealed some interested information from this unusual source.
As the researchers point out, pets play a big part in home choices and with the millennial generation delaying marriage and having fewer children, pet ownership may become a bigger factor in the US housing market.
The choices that people will make if they have pets – and if they have pets rather than children – may be different to traditional choices made at certain stages of life.
The Urban Institute’s team – Sarah Strochak, Laurie Goodman, and Jun Zhu – have uncovered five trends from their research.
- Only those households headed by 30-44 year olds were more likely to have children than pets. Pet ownership is 40-60% for households in their 20s through to 70s and peaks in their 40s.
- Homeowners are more likely than renters to have pets – 57% vs. 37%.
- Married adults more likely than singles to have pets. But singles more likely to have pets than children.
- White families most likely to have pets but least likely to have both pets and children.
- Americans are increasingly choosing pets over children.
The team concludes that they will watch the data in the future to see if pet ownership is affecting housing choices.
