"Nearly 3 million fewer Americans now own homes compared to the first quarter of 2005, when homeownership peaked at 69.1%, the Census Bureau found. During the third quarter of 2010, the homeownership rate was down to 66.9%, unchanged from a quarter earlier. That's the lowest rate since the second quarter of 1999.
Meanwhile, a great number of homes sit empty. For owner-occupied homes, the vacancy rate remains at 2.5%, the same as in the second quarter, but well up from the sub-2% levels seen mid-decade.
For rental properties, the vacancy rate actually dropped in the third quarter, to 10.3% from 10.6% three months earlier. But that's still up from the 9.9% rate of 24 months ago.
But the 'American Dream' of owning a home is part of the reason the housing market failed int he first place- Banks lowered requirements for loans to buy a home so that everyone could afford it.
ReplyDelete- thoughts from Prof. MacLeod in her lecture a while back.......
The general perspective of the American Dream is prosperity and well-being for the average person and this is what created an optimistic nation. Although consumption has been at 70% over the years, income has stayed largely stagnant which shows that spending has been facilitated by high level borrowing. The US needs to make a shift from consumption to investment (in research and development) to create more jobs which will create the paycheck required to buy a house.
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