'Home, Sweet Home'.

AuthorRock, Robert H.
PositionLETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN

As I have done for the past 25 years, I delivered a "Thanksgiving Day Address" in November. Thanksgiving is America's secular holiday that glorifies our nation as a land of opportunity, of sharing, of plenty. This year my Thanksgiving address focused on "home." In particular, I examined the images, impressions and emotions evoked by the question, "Where is your home?"

For most of us, a home is more than a dwelling, and much more than four walls and a ceiling. It's what we bring into a house that makes it our home, and "be it ever so humble, there's no place like (it)."Whether a palace or a modest bungalow, home is our refuge, our base, our roots. The notion of home evokes feelings of security, warmth and comfort. It is the place we feel a sense of attachment and connectedness. It is the place we find our loved ones.

People over 40 years old generally consider home as where they grew up or where they now live. Those 20 to 40 may think of home as where their stuff is. Those under 20 may point to the home button on their iPhone.

Homeownership has long been associated with the American dream and is often seen as its very essence. Its sacrosanct status is one of the rare points of agreement across today's political divide.

Yet, the U.S. homeownership rate in the third quarter of 2017 remained near its lowest level since the Census Bureau began tracking it in 1965. Only 63.9% of U.S. households are owner-occupied residencies, down from the all-time high of 69.2% reached in the fourth quarter of 2004. Since the Great Recession, an increasing...

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