Low mortgage interest rates, a strong national economy and new programs designed to open up housing opportunities for moderate income families have all helped push the nation's homeownership rate to an all-time record high for 1998, according to Charles Ruma, a home builder from Columbus, Ohio and president of the National Association of Home Builders.

"Interest rates are down, employment is up and people are buying homes in record numbers,'' Ruma said, as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released numbers showing a record homeownership rate of 66.3 percent for the entire year of 1998. A total of 69.1 million families now own their homes.

"The people most benefiting from this upward trend include minorities, recent immigrants and others who have been previously shut out of the homeownership market,'' Ruma added.

Ruma praised HUD for taking the lead in expanding the FHA mortgage insurance program, which is designed to provide low downpayment loans for moderate income families. Last year Congress adopted legislation that significantly increased the mortgage ceiling on FHA loans -- a move strongly pushed for by the National Association of Realtors.

In 1998, home builders broke ground on more than 1.6 million new homes and apartment units, the highest construction rate since 1986. New home sales totaled 885,000, the highest level ever.

``More American families owned homes in 1998 than in any year in U.S. history, including more minorities than ever,'' a spokesman for HUD said. ``...homeownership has been transformed from an impossible dream into a beautiful reality for millions of our people. All across this country, low interest rates, low unemployment, business prosperity and our homeownership initiatives are turning renters into homeowners.''

The percentage of households owning their homes jumped from 64 percent in 1993 to a record 65.7 percent in 1997 before hitting the new homeownership rate record of 66.3 percent last year, according to Census Bureau statistics.

A total of 41 percent of the net new homeowners since 1994 are minorities -- even though minorities account for just 24 percent of the population.

The homeownership rate for the fourth quarter of 1998 also set a new record for a fourth quarter, hitting 66.4 percent -- breaking the record fourth quarter high of 65.7 percent set in 1997.

Last year was also the first year that the central city homeownership rate hit the 50 percent mark. Central cities are defined as the largest communities in a metropolitan area.

In addition to hitting annual record highs in 1998, black and Hispanic homeownership rates continued growing twice as fast as the white homeownership rate.

``We're working to open the door to homeownership for more Americans, no matter who they are and no matter where they live,'' the HUD spokesman said. ``Our goal is to shrink the vast homeownership gap dividing minorities from whites and dividing cities from their surrounding communities."

The 1998 annual homeownership rate also increased in all four regions of the country to the following percentage rates:

	1993	1997	1998
NORTHEAST	61.8	62.4	62.6
MIDWEST	67.1	70.5	71.1
SOUTH	65.7	68.0	68.6
WEST	59.9	59.6	60.5

Homeownership has many benefits. Homeowners generally enjoy better living conditions than renters; accumulate wealth as their investment in their homes grows; strengthen the economy by purchases of homes, furniture and appliances; and tend to be more involved in promoting strong neighborhoods and good schools than renters.

For many families, taking a second mortgage on a home is a way of financing a new family business or a college education for a child. When parents who own a home die, the home is usually the most valuable asset they pass on to their children and helps the next generation find economic security.