By Ken Gewertz

Gazette Staff

Homeownership is rising rapidly in the suburbs, leaving many renters behind in declining center city neighborhoods, according to The State of the Nation's Housing 1996, a Ford Foundation-sponsored study produced annually by the Joint Center for Housing Studies.

This persistent movement of homebuyers to the suburbs is one of the powerful forces that will shape housing markets in the 21st century, the report states.

"With improved affordability, the number of homeowners is growing at a record pace," said William Apgar, Joint Center executive director. "The addition of 1.7 million homeowners in 1995 represents the largest single-year increase in more than two decades."

This rise in housing construction is expected to continue for the next 15 years, averaging 1.7 million units annually between now and 2021, the report states.

Moreover, home-owning continues to be a good investment, providing a major wealth-building opportunity for many Americans. While recent declines in house prices, particularly in high-cost markets like Boston and Los Angeles, have generated concern about the advantage of buying, the report states that in most areas house prices have continued to rise.

"The bad news is that the current homeownership boom is bypassing major center cities," said Apgar. "The search for better-quality housing, public services, and employment opportunities encourages flight from the cities to the suburbs. Home sales and construction on the fringes of metropolitan areas are booming, but residential activity in many older center cities has virtually halted."

Those left behind in the city face growing rent pressures and continuing neighborhood deterioration, the report states. Ongoing loss of low-cost housing stock and planned cutbacks in federal subsidies is expected to increase the already large number of poor households living in structurally inadequate housing or paying more than 50 percent of their income for housing. The result of this trend will be an America "increasingly divided."

According to Apgar, these trends will not be easily reversed, particularly in an era of scarce resources. The only hope lies in a joint effort by business and government to foster housing activity in the urban core.

"Expanding access to homeownership and affordable housing must be part of any comprehensive community revitalization strategy," Apgar said.