The current home ownership rate now stands at levels last seen in 1998. Glass-Steagall was repealed in 1999 and allowed for every exotic mortgage idea to proliferate the market during the bubble. As it turns out, we did not increase home ownership in any sustainable fashion and simply set our economy down a tragic path chasing easy profits through flips and other get rich quick ideas. Like Oedipus who later receives the news about his father, the past is coming back to haunt us.
It doesn’t get any lower than that. The answer is rather obvious if the charts could speak to us. Many Americans looking to buy can only afford cheaper priced housing. Saddled with large amounts of debt already, they may not qualify or want to buy a more expensive home. Unlike the baby boomers who had limited debt prior to buying their first home and also entering a healthy economy, we are in a very different situation here.
No comments:
Post a Comment