The traditional homeownership rate, tracked by the U.S. Census Bureau, measures the share of occupied homes in which the owner lives. The new measure from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, called the homeowners-to-population ratio, or HPOP, instead calculates the share of adults who own a home.

For any Canadians reading, this almost certainly applies to us as well as we determine the home ownership rate in the same flawed way. It misses all sorts of living situations such as adult children living with parents, people renting a room, people renting non-legal suites in a house where the other half is occupied by the owner, etc.