OT: More great economic news - homeownership in America has collapsed

14 comments

• Papi_Chulo

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  10 years ago

  It may go up; but not stratospherically – headwinds for housing in my unprofessional opinion:
  
  + just like the post Great Depression generation of the early 1930s often/mostly did not ever again feel financially safe in their lifetimes; I think the post 2000s housing debacle generation will often feel uneasy about homeownership
  
  + young people today often feel insecure about their financial future and careers – it used to be if one was a white-collar professional, the down economic times did not affect one as much – it was thought if one had a college degree; one would have a good job w/ good pay most of their lives – not the case anymore
  
  + today – many people often have to pick up roots and move away in order to get a good job or get a career going – thus some do not want to be tied down to a house which they may have issues selling
  
  + inverse demographic trends – the baby-boom generation is becoming a larger and larger part of the overall population – many baby-boomers want to downsize or maybe even become renters (for convenience) and there are not enough young people, or willing young people, to buy up all the houses they baby-boomers may want to unload
  
• deogol

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  10 years ago

  What Papi said.
• JohnSmith69

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  10 years ago

  Papi, Steve no dot requires a Cliff Notes version or an executive summary for any post of that length or substance. Try to keep it to 30 words or less and say yada yada a lot.
• mikeya02

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  10 years ago

  Well, there is a house in New Orleans that has been the ruin of many a poor boy.....
• Randy777

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  10 years ago

  @steve229 "Which of course means - nowhere to go but up, baby!"
  
  Ah, no, it does not mean that.
  A look at the graph indicates it hasn't bottomed out. It's still on the downward trend.
  Economic leading indicators such as durable goods, materials (steel, concrete...etc) are all down.
  Real wages are down while personal debt is up.
  So, who is supposed to be buying these houses while prices are up, but real wages and disposable income is down?
  
  A large percentage of housing is bought by real estate investors, not average folk. These investors buy low, put a few K into rehab, and rent to section 8.
• steve229

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  10 years ago

  "So, who is supposed to be buying these houses while prices are up, but real wages and disposable income is down?"
  
  Entrepreneurial millennials, of course. The same ones driving the economic boom. Haven't you been paying attention?
• mikeya02

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  10 years ago

  Times are tight. Jimi's girl had to move out of her Red House because Jimi wasn't around for 99 and one half days to help with the payments.
• steve229

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  10 years ago

  Our house is a very, very fine house with two cats in the yard, life used to be so hard,
• shailynn

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  10 years ago

  Funny this is posted as I just read an article the other day saying "millennials prefer to rent but want luxury rentals with pools, lounges, etc." what that means is they still want the dorms they had in college.
  
  Thank god they are bigger fucks ups than my generation (gen x). I thought we were worthless but they make us look good! Wait, doesn't every generation say that about the next?
• skibum609

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  10 years ago

  Under George Bush unemployment went below 4%, black home ownership hit its' highest levels in history and home ownership across the board was up. The rich suffered due to a lousy stock market, but the average person did well. Then the Democrats took over Congress and the white house and the rich made billions on the market, while everyone else suffered. Check it out and then explain to me why any poor person or person of color would ever vote democrat?
• san_jose_guy

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  10 years ago

  During the Clinton era there was a running joke about all the jobs they had created:
  
  "Don't tell me about those jobs, I've got three of them."
  
  Don't worry about any coming economic boom changing SC's. Maybe there will be a lower unemployment rate for a while. But these will be junk jobs. The number of people really hurting and living in fear continues to rise. So those willing to work in the sex industry will continue to rise, even during a speculative bubble. But likewise, during a bubble, some people benefit. Mostly it is those already doing well.
  
  So UHM Strip Clubs will continue to proliferate, driven by money at the top, and by desperation at the bottom. Welcome to the United States of America, one huge third world country.
  
  SJG
• PhantomGeek

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  10 years ago

  Skibum, under W, the economy tanked, thousands of jobs were sent overseas (thanks to W's administration), the housing bubble burst, and the U.S. started two illegal and unjustifiable wars, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people and the rise of ISIS.
  
  Explain to me why I'd want to vote republican.
• san_jose_guy

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  10 years ago

  Much of that supposed high home ownership was due to unscrupulous lending practices.
  
  SJG
• Dougster

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  10 years ago

  SJG: "Much of that supposed high home ownership was due to unscrupulous lending practices."
  
  Yes, well, there was that little thing. LOL! Nice try skibum but looks like you got busted on that one and props to SJG for calling you out.