Dive Brief:
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Americans formed more new households in the first nine months of 2014 than in any year since 2005.
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That’s good news for the homebuilding industry, which has been stymied by the lack of interest among young adults, who are delaying marriage and homeownership, and who are renting in greater numbers than they are buying homes.
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Fortune reported the optimistic numbers from Renaissance Macro Research. As recently as September, however, the Census Bureau reported that new household formation in the U.S. lagged substantially behind the average of the past two years.
Dive Insight:
Fortune called the growth in household formation “the best news in nearly a decade” for homebuilders.
The changing tide jibes with a prediction earlier this month from Realtor.com economist Jonathan Smoke, who predicted that 2015 will be the year when millennials start becoming homeowners in significant numbers.