That covid spike in 2020 is pretty interesting. Probably the percentage of people that rent something close to their workplace and could move home when WFH became a thing.

> The homeownership rate is the proportion of households that is owner-occupied.

I suppose there probably aren't better metrics available, but someone who lives in a rented out penthouse that's being financed by owning 20 rented out apartments wouldn't show up as a homeowner under this which is hilarious.

From what I can find [0] homeownership rates in the EU are typically north of 70%, and up to to 90% in some countries. Germany seems to be a real outlier at only 50%.

[0] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/digpub/housing/bloc-1a.h....

Yes, I'm not surprised that OP's comparison fails to hold up especially against the central/eastern European countries. The website you link is using a slightly different definition of homeownership but at 90% it must carry over to be more than the US. Which I guess just means it's a poor metric for anythig really.