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US Homeownership Rate Drops To 1995 Levels

Tyler Durden's picture




 

When it comes to the US housing market there appear to be three groups of people: those who who have either unlimited cash and/or access to credit, and like the most rabid of bubble-chasing speculators, are perfectly happy to engage in a game of Flip That House for a short-term profit pending the discovery of a greater fool (often times converting the house into rental properties as numerous hedge funds have been doing on cost-free basis courtesy of the government's REO-To-Rent program) - they are the vast minority of speculators; then there are those who currently rent and are opportunistically looking at home prices, willing to dip their toe at the right price - these too are few and far between and mostly represent a function of the natural growth of the US household offset by the availability of jobs; and then there is everyone else. Sadly, it is the "everyone else" that is the vast majority of the US population.

It is this "everyone else" that is once again being forced out of housing due to both the ramping bubble in housing prices making housing affordable primarily to those who buy with the intention of flipping, and due to the lack of available credit to those who actually need it (see sad state of commercial bank loans in the US).

Finally, it is this "everyone else" who comprises the bulk of those who have been kicked out of the American Dream, whose core pillar has always been owning your own home (with or without a massive mortgage attached), not renting.

As the US Census Bureau reported earlier today, the US homeownership rates in the first quarter of 2013 dropped by another 0.4% to a fresh 18 years low, or 65% - the lowest since 1995!

That this progressive, ongoing decline in ownership is taking place despite allegedly record home affordability is without doubt the most troubling feature of the economic "recovery" which has forced ever more Americans to shift away from owning and into renting, as can be seen by the next two charts showing the median asking rent and sale prices for vacant rent units and for sale units. While home prices have a long way to go still countrywide (excluding the occasional regional bubble market such as LA and NY), rents are already at record highs, which explains why it is every hedge fund's dream to become a landlord.

However, it is only a matter of time before zero-cost subsidized rental pass thru units owned by hedge funds who can therefore keep the rental asking price as high as they wish, forces out more and more Americans out of the Adjusted American Dream, where renting is the new buying, and leads to ever more people living in the streets.

Although, we are confident, it will be merely a matter of time before this, or some other administration, simply unleashes a "street living tax" - after all, "it is only fair" to apply austerity to hobos next. Because it has worked so well with the billionaires and trillionaires...

 

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Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:50 | 3514392 Ahmeexnal
Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:53 | 3514414 camaro68ss
camaro68ss's picture

Now more then ever is the best time to....aw F*** it!

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:54 | 3514420 knukles
knukles's picture

Well now, that sure explains the rise in prices... about as much as them massive gold sales creating them shortages of physical. 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:31 | 3514435 hedgeless_horseman
hedgeless_horseman's picture

 

 

Google Trends...

"Home Defense" in BLUE

"Home Purchase" in RED

 

 

For Home Defense, Mrs. Horseman suggets a 12 gauge Benelli M2 Tactical shotgun, get the model with the ghost ring sights, and add an Urbino short stock from Mesa Tactical.

Also, do add a Surefire forend light, and tritium night sights for the irons. GG&G release plate and charging handle along with a +2 round Nordic extension tube and an Urban ERT sling and then you are good to go.

Nine (or even 12 or 15) .32 caliber 00 pellets with each pull of the 12 gauge's trigger is a reliable method for anyone to stop a big, powerful, motivated bad guy that is trying to kill you, or worse.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOW LONG ARE THE SCREWS SECURING THE HINGES OF YOUR FRONT DOOR?

Go unscrew one and measure it now, friends. It will take less than one minute.

If they are less than 3 inches, or you do not have a good deadbolt, then you have a one-kick-door.

We will see how you do when a couple of vans loaded with bad hombres pull into your driveway and a moment later are all in your home with guns to your head.

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/entertainment/must_see_video/arizona-home-invasi...

We need to have our mind, body, and equipment ready at all times. We all need to work together to create an environment that is hostile to bad guys.

Don't EVER open the door for strangers. Always keep your doors locked, install door jamb armor with 3-1/2 stainless screws, always use the intercom when someone rings, always carry a weapon, and get the training and find the will to use it.

 

"An armed society is a polite society, " -Heinlein.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:30 | 3514557 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

to 1995 levels...along with the price

tune in, turn on, drop out

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:39 | 3514582 SamAdams
SamAdams's picture

The HOUSING RECOVERY is in full swing!  I saw it on CBS just a week ago!  BULLISH!!!!

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:14 | 3514770 spekulatn
spekulatn's picture

Fine post HH. 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:17 | 3514789 NeedleDickTheBu...
NeedleDickTheBugFucker's picture

They won't get past the M18 Claymores ring fencing the property.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:50 | 3514862 hedgeless_horseman
hedgeless_horseman's picture

 

 

"They" being home buyers.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:53 | 3514417 Aeternus
Aeternus's picture

Of course homeownership rates are dropping, if large amounts of the populace don't have a job how could they possibly afford a home?

 

Wait, I have an idea, let's offer 100 year term loans at 0% and no money down! All in favor say Aye!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyklt01lN_I

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:58 | 3514427 knukles
knukles's picture

Or 7 year auto loans

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:56 | 3514433 onewayticket2
onewayticket2's picture

This chart must not contain "intangible" homes....

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:14 | 3514514 Richard III
Richard III's picture

Aye, verily: the road to serfdom winds through Suburbia.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:34 | 3514565 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

that's only for the borrowers who are too big to fail

that's why so many are obese

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:00 | 3514707 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

So... do you give Tyler a cut of your youtube spam payola?

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:22 | 3514812 BraveSirRobin
BraveSirRobin's picture

Such a fool. All yopu have to do is give a trillion dollar coin to everyone and then everyone can afford to buy a house. The solution is so easy, even the Ben Bernank and Paul Krugman can figure it out.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:40 | 3514864 Stuck on Zero
Stuck on Zero's picture

If you owe $500,000 on your mortgage and your home is valued at $410,000 are you really the owner?  The realy number I'd like to see is the value of all owner occupied property vs. the debt obligations.  It might be startling.

 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 15:50 | 3515142 Troll Magnet
Troll Magnet's picture

I owe nothing on my house but this damn city keeps charging me $15,000 property tax every year. Do I still own "my" house?

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 16:23 | 3515303 Binko
Binko's picture

Of course not. The Government grants you a provisional, limited "ownership" stake in "your" house. But that can be revoked at any time for a number of different reasons. 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:38 | 3514588 Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day's picture

If rates ever rise again, the winners wil be the renters who won't get stuck with a falling home price and a steadily increasing property tax bill.  The Hedge funds are not as smart as they think.  This is what keeps Ben Shalom up at night.  Rising rates when he loses control, unless of course Japan blows up first and crashes the whole thing, then he can blame it on the them

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:30 | 3514839 daveO
daveO's picture

Things will only 'blow up' if people switch to another currency. The Hedgies are working on the same assumption that has worked for all of the corporations since 1913. This is, that they will get their borrowed money at below market rates, thanks to the FED, and then exploit their built in advantage. They can get loans now, to buy houses that are still too expensive. They're banking on more hideous inflation down the road.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:49 | 3514395 Bay of Pigs
Bay of Pigs's picture

WINNING!

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:51 | 3514399 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

Just wait until it drops to 1840 levels, long sharecropping...

Power and control people, that is what this is really all about.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:54 | 3514423 camaro68ss
camaro68ss's picture

Was a slave shack counted as housing in 1840. I can see where that would skew the numbers.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:57 | 3514432 knukles
knukles's picture

Depends upon whether it was a shotgun shack and how many slaves wuz crammed into it.  And whether it wuz painted white

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 17:37 | 3515558 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

I thought that the state sponsored, Fannie/Freddie operated homeownership policies flanked by fiat powered budget deficits aided by global currency reserve status would count as... cental planning

from the comments it looks like a political holy cow, and a big one, too

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:10 | 3514499 WhyDoesItHurtWh...
WhyDoesItHurtWhen iPee's picture

I know someone who delivers mail pt time in my town.  He says the number of last names at an address has dramatically increased since '09.  Not uncommon to see 4-6 last names on a single address.  Also indicates more divorces. The extended family living in one home has returned (2-3 generations).

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:38 | 3514580 RobD
RobD's picture

Sample of one, my household now includes me, the wife, our two school age kids, my sister, and my wife's two grown nieces. Sister is on disability from her Toys R Us job, working on getting her SSD and has food stamps. The two nieces have jobs but don't make enough to afford rent on there own. Spot the recovery in my home lol.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 16:10 | 3515221 Binko
Binko's picture

That seems to be the new norm. All around me I see my nieces and nephews in their late 20s and 30s living with parents, siblings doubling up, three generations in one home etc. Young people are looking at a future of 30 hr a week jobs at minimum wage. That's just enough for the simple amenities of life which only works because they are currently living rent and utilitiy free. 

America has embarked on a rapid transition to a future where the average person cannot make enough money to support a family, buy a car, pay taxes, take a vacation or save for retirement. The true nature of this is obscured becase we are currently living off pretend government money and the momentum of our past wealth. 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:40 | 3514584 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

thanks, very cool statistic

a lot of the world lives like this and always has

lets see, oil took labor's place and the they've moved production elsewhere

guess it's all "coming back home" 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:47 | 3514630 I Am Not a Copp...
I Am Not a Copper Top's picture

No shit.  In that video of the "cops" searching for the Boston "bombers" in Watertown, they must have pulled a dozen people out of that one house.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:06 | 3514728 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

I can't wait until I watch the city I live near start running these people out, since it is against the law for more than four unrelated people to live together.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:59 | 3514940 j0nx
j0nx's picture

haha sheeeit. That law exists here too but is unenforceable. Have tried to get the family next to me with 15 people living in that townhouse out of there before and they tell the city they are all related and that's the end of that. The city does NOT, repeat NOT investigate further or demand to see proof that they are all related. Once the vermin are in your neighborhood there is no getting them out. My hood is proof of that. It would be raciss after all. I have been suffering through this shit for the past 6 years with a neighborhood of 100 homes that went 50% occupied renters after the crash. Am finally to a point now where I MIGHT be able to sell for what I owe so I can GTFO of this town and never look back. House is on the market now and am hoping for solid contracts that get me to a break even point. I learned my lesson on real estate and location. It was epic how quickly this neighborhood and this town devolved into 3rd world status. Almost like they all sent out an SOS to rally at the town square and move into every possible house with as many of them as possible.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 16:16 | 3515270 helping_friendl...
helping_friendly_book's picture

I bought a house for $31,000, 2100 sq. ft. three stories built in 1850's. Rooms were fucking huge. I put deadbolts on every door and rented rooms for $350/month all utilities included. There were six large rooms and my room, the smallest and I raked $2100/month while my expenses were arond $1000. I never made a mortgage payment because my roomates did. I sold the house at the peak of the bubble, thank god, pocketed $60,000 and bought a nice little house three blocks from the University Campus that I rent and pocket $300/month.

If I were 20 again I would go squat in some banks empty house, forge a lease, get the utilities cut on and do it all over again except this time I wouldn't own the hous. I would just collect the money.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 16:34 | 3515341 Blankenstein
Blankenstein's picture

j0nx -

What size city do you live in?  

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 16:10 | 3515237 Binko
Binko's picture

America the free? It's astonishing how many laws and regulations we live under. 

We are really just "free" to drive around and buy shit. Anything after that, at this point, is provisional on government approval. 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:53 | 3514402 moneybots
moneybots's picture

Yet in Los Angeles, home prices have jumped 50% this year according to another Zero Hedge posting, today.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:56 | 3514418 Bay of Pigs
Bay of Pigs's picture

Prices do not equate with ownership.

Millions of bank owned homes across the US are sitting empty.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:09 | 3514497 Major Major Major
Major Major Major's picture

There are also a lot of funds that have been buying up homes to rent. There are people forming new funds to do this as well, even with projected returns declining from where they were over the past couple of years. IMO majority of houses bought today are from these funds, people with cash that they need to stick somewhere and think that real estate is cheap and those who have been working towards buying something and are not going to let anything get in the way of that. The problem is that once these funds start to miss their projected cash-on-cash returns / IRRs, investors will be hesitant to continue this strategy. Also, once those with cash have bought a home or two or three, they probably won't want another. Lastly, the number of people (with jobs that show sufficient income - hard to buy without a loan) is likely on the decline.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 15:08 | 3514979 Cathartes Aura
Cathartes Aura's picture

it stands to reason that if fewer people are employed/waged, then fewer people will be able to afford the rentier class offerings. . . which means multiple income streams needed for each house-unit, "generational" style with families throwing in together, or "single" room style renting.

of course, the problems rise from there, crowding of adults can lead to discord, aka trashing the place.  landlords will all be chasing that gem of someone who can pass the credit/background check hoops with sufficient income to afford to play the amrkn game of "house 'n' cars 'n' stuff" - fewer players means the landlords will have to settle for derivative tenants, chasing after those .gov Section 8 "guaranteed" income streams. . . with less profits as repairs between evictions continue to rise.

people have yet to truly understand the "amrkn dream" style of existence sold as a package deal is over, adapt to survive is where it's at.

nothing is as easy as it was/seemed, before. . .

 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:11 | 3514506 NickVegas
NickVegas's picture

Millions of bank owned homes acress the US are sitting occupied. 30 year, low interest, you start paying the principle really somewhere around year 17, and everyone and their brother has a renewable lien on the digs. It's like horse racing, or maybe closer to ratting. The ideal owner is a 20 something with a huge education debt, that is willing to go in the rat pit, and fight the other rats, and emerge victorious to deliver their piece of the pie to banksters. Young is better, they will keep fighting to deliver.

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there's some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:51 | 3514648 Bay of Pigs
Bay of Pigs's picture

Sorry, but most young people are not qualifying to buy homes now. 8 to 16M units are empty across the country.

Banks are simply keeping inventories low to boost prices. 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:56 | 3514673 Major Major Major
Major Major Major's picture

water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:24 | 3514822 BraveSirRobin
BraveSirRobin's picture

"Millions of bank owned homes across the US are sitting empty."

Come on. This is hardly likely. I am sure those homes are filled with air, and likely some dust, as well.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 16:15 | 3515248 Binko
Binko's picture

..and cockroaches, and transients, and drug paraphenalia, and rats.

Empty houses won't even stay houses for long if they were built in the last 10 years with ultra-cheap imported materials slapped together by cheap unskilled labor. 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:54 | 3514422 Mojeaux18
Mojeaux18's picture

Yup. Because corporations are buying the houses, not families.  Families don't have the 100% cash on 25% over listing price that most places require. But don't worry, they'll let you rent it cheap (125% margin).

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:04 | 3514453 knukles
knukles's picture

Nobody in The People's Republic of California needs more than a kitchen, mattress and stool because the weather's always so nice.  Who'd ever want to spend tome indoors?  Hell, there's proof in the pudding as more and more people are electing to live outdoors, au naturel with just a bedroll and a few changes of clothes. 
Land of Opportunity, Social Justice and Free Shit for Everybody But You.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:04 | 3514729 Cthonic
Cthonic's picture

Location, location.  That house would cost maybe $90k in TX

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:00 | 3514448 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

It helps to be close to the "free money".

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:44 | 3514600 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

I've noticed that the "free money" and the "get out of jail free" card seem to be related

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:10 | 3514745 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Well, somebody's gotta provide a li'l boost in order to get some velocity out of this fiat.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:51 | 3514404 whoopsing
whoopsing's picture

Long corrigated paper...and tarps

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:58 | 3514442 espirit
espirit's picture

Do 10 yr. loans on the 1995 family wagon count?  Luckily, the a/c still works.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:54 | 3514407 somecallmetimmah
somecallmetimmah's picture

"US Homeownership Rate Drops To 1995 Levels"

Do I get to be 25 again?  please?

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:54 | 3514409 Mojeaux18
Mojeaux18's picture

Hobos vote Democrat.  Therefore no way they will tax hobos.  They'll give them "Dumpster Assistance Stipends".

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:54 | 3514419 realtick
realtick's picture

step back for a minute and look at the long term picture - after an historic crash housing prices are enjoying a predictable a-b-c pullback thanks to trillions of QE bullshit

the next leg down, the "e" wave, will finish off the banks and the economy completely

Insecure House Prices In The Homeland

http://chartistfriendfrompittsburgh.blogspot.com/2013/04/insecure-house-...

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 12:56 | 3514431 Mojeaux18
Mojeaux18's picture

Cool.  So wait for the firesale.  Does Elliot wave include predictions on when?

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:55 | 3514679 11b40
11b40's picture

He'll no! That's the great part of being a 'waver'. You can't be wrong. EVENTUALLY, all things come to pass ;-)

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:00 | 3514439 Quantum Nucleonics
Quantum Nucleonics's picture

But, but, housing recovery???  My homebuilder stocks are soaring still, right??  

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:13 | 3514760 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Where I'm at, entire subdivisions of three-bedroom duplexes and quadriplexes are being built for the stupids who seek a lifetime of student loan debt-enslavement.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:02 | 3514445 Tsar Pointless
Tsar Pointless's picture

Back in the fall of 2011, our next door neighbor's moved and put their house up for sale. At the time, they priced it at over $87k - which was ludicrously high, considering the house is a mirror-image of mine, and that I bought mine less than two years prior for about $30k less.

Fast-forward to now, and they have lowered the asking price all the way down to $49.9k. It still sits there, vacant.

What's the point of this tale? None, I guess. After all, I am Tsar Pointless.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 21:44 | 3516275 edifice
edifice's picture

Good story, brah.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:01 | 3514454 ForWhomTheTollBuilds
ForWhomTheTollBuilds's picture

OH, I KNOW!!!  (waves hand furiously from the back of the class)

 

The government should create programs to encourage home ownership!  Cheap credit would make housing more affordable.  Collectively we will end up making way more money than we spend on the program and we will have all sorts of social benefits.

If a few asshole libertarians object have Jon Stewart and Bill Mahr lambaste them on TV.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:01 | 3514455 azzhatter
azzhatter's picture

MSM is pre-occupied with a homo in the NBA. They'll get after this next week, I'm sure

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:05 | 3514456 Atlantis Consigliore
Atlantis Consigliore's picture

7 year auto loans; let em sleep in their cars;  ... $ 1 trillion in debt millenials student loans, cant qualify;

demand?  8 million illegal aliens using a no doc, no income verif loan, to qualify and get thier simulatneous "green card." 

Prices?   + 25 % with low low low 4 m a year sales as owners pull supply   ......count on it. 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:04 | 3514466 knukles
knukles's picture

Buy 'em now while they're cheap before another 30 million illegals start piling on.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:06 | 3514463 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

     I guess it's time to ramp up the Ninja loans.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 16:33 | 3515342 UpAndComing
UpAndComing's picture

2 on the front and 2 on the back...getting a half chub...but wait :( No more yield spread. Thanks Dodd-Fwank 

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ABUXVq0NSVY/TOqV3-wn3fI/AAAAAAAABiI/o92ZqVhk0_E/s1600/bert.jpg

 

 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:07 | 3514472 lolmao500
lolmao500's picture

Do like Japan. Give people 0.1% interest on a 30 years loan if you put 20% down... The can will be kicked for quite a while if they do that.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:15 | 3514475 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

So the most cash rich company - Apple - is going to issue debt in the form of iBonds?

Down the rabbit hole!

Who needs a home when you can buy every iGadget and iBonds?

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:08 | 3514477 Sach Mahoney
Sach Mahoney's picture

Let's print more!  That'll fix it

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:10 | 3514487 WTFx10
WTFx10's picture

We own shit. If I don't pay my $4500 in extortion fees every year the State takes what I own. Thats not ownership.

Its a fucking lease stop calling it ownership.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:14 | 3514504 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

Correct, that why seeing "ownership" rates return to their 1840 status might not be so bad for some good stewards of the land.  Most would not want to work that hard however.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:29 | 3514555 edifice
edifice's picture

Technically, if you've paid off the mortgage, you do own the house... You just don't own the land it sits on.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:40 | 3514583 lolmao500
lolmao500's picture

Which is bullshit really. The guy who started the city/town didn't buy all that land and lease it out...

If you bought the land, it should be yours. Fuck the city.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 15:56 | 3515162 helping_friendl...
helping_friendly_book's picture

That is the way the Chinese do it. You get a 75 year lease on the condo but, you don't own the land.

 

I suppose we are communist now?

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:35 | 3514566 lolmao500
lolmao500's picture

Good point.

Someone should start a new city where there's no property tax at all... once you paid your house, it's yours no matter what.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:58 | 3514695 11b40
11b40's picture

Those places would be called the county.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 15:57 | 3515155 LauraB
LauraB's picture

PA currently has bills to eliminate the school property tax.  I hope it passes soon.  http://www.ptcc.us/

 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:17 | 3514780 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

If I'm in the wrong mood, I'll write "Extortion" in the comment section of my check. Which I usually am, as I pay it over a year late, and in person. Then I ask them to please not steal my house for another year.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:08 | 3514491 Gromit
Gromit's picture

....1995 levels"

Which is where it should be.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:17 | 3514526 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

You mean the home prices and rent rates, right?

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:33 | 3514569 lolmao500
lolmao500's picture

Well home prices and rent prices in Canada have never been this high...

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:39 | 3514595 Gromit
Gromit's picture

No I mean that people not financially strong enough to own should rent.

Maybe 6 months mortgage payments in the bank, income 2 1/2 times mrtgage payment plus taxes plus insurance.

 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 17:02 | 3515444 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

Deal, if they put 20% down and the Bank holds the loan for life, securitization and deriviatives are outlawed, no bank bailouts ever, Fannie/Freddie and FHA ended, Glass-Steagall re-enacted, rule-of-law enforced.

Homeowner and the Bank have skin in the game for the life of the loan.

No housing bubble, no bailouts, $6 Trillion less in debt.

But, perchance, I dream.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:10 | 3514502 lemarche
lemarche's picture

PROBABLY ANYONE'S GUESS AT, HOW COME THEN PRICES ARE GOING UP?? NO FREE LUNCHES BERNANKE, HUH?....

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:13 | 3514510 morning
morning's picture

In Portugal, people are offered 50-year mortgages and still the prices have plummeted some 30% in 5 years. Car loans? Yes, 8 to 10 year loans can be found. Auto sales are at all time lows.

Moar socialism. After all, every one of the five political parties are socialists.

Rooting for the deer moment.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:16 | 3514523 Dr. No
Dr. No's picture

Trying to get 100% home onwership is what got us in this mess.  It may come as a surprise to some, but not everyone is homeowner material.  Personally, i think  going back to 1995 levels is a step in the right direction.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:25 | 3514539 morning
morning's picture

Not if the remaining homeowners, trying to decide between renting out or selling, face either a 1% property tax (YEARLY) or an asset depreciation of 30%. Plus assorted fees and tax over tax. Like here. 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:22 | 3514533 Rick Blaine
Rick Blaine's picture

B-b-b-b-b-b-but the nice m-m-man on TV said that h-h-h-housing was in a strong recovery!?!?!?!

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:31 | 3514542 earleflorida
earleflorida's picture

long, long... long ago, we americans as it were-- dwelled in a amorphous, yet boundless mosaic landscape of immigrants. a country build upon individual freedom and back breaking land ownership that now has become a throw away society of generational proportion.  whilst, the hard bite of reality shun'd as incomprehensible has manifested oneself into the leasing of future adherent dreams and the safety of 'haves -to-nots', and not's into the all. a bridge to no-where, wher the rubicon is now a toll-- an underpass will do fine mate`ty... for rabid complacency that our forefathers kept viligant on a golden script has been shreded before your very eyes? and yet, what curse doesn't call-out, and fall-out upon greed, advarice, and a me-generation that now will suffer at its own illusionary indulgences of acquiesence entropy!

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:25 | 3514543 edifice
edifice's picture

The "American Dream" is a concept developed by Edward Bernays and others like him; it is an abstract aberration, with no historical precedent.

Start thinking 1870s America, if you want to see the future: Robber Barons, child labor, gross inequity. You know, the historical norm.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:28 | 3514546 Atlantis Consigliore
Atlantis Consigliore's picture

this is Godfather III, watch it, it was called 'Immobliere'  private fund buys govt/ church homes and  controls rental mkt;

hedge funds buying all the Shadow inventory not ruined wi/ mold abandoned empy houses 40% of market,...

destroy the mold houses 1-2 million and you have supply/demand rebalanced.  at 3.9 M a year  with a 25 % price increase    ....

throw in 8 million illegals given green cards, with homestead mortgages no doc purchase of homes to qualify citizenship, ..and you have DEMAND.

 

 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:29 | 3514548 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

Boston patsies..er.... I meant bombers...."We give up we didn't do it".

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So9ub8TK_Hk&list=HL1367098648

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 16:27 | 3515308 Unstable Condition
Unstable Condition's picture

Here's a couple frames of the brothers shooting back, who knows what the hell happened.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDbhGuymA3c

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:34 | 3514550 dobermangang
dobermangang's picture

This is the American Dream: Betting your life savings and winning a stuffed banana with dredlocks.  It doesn't get any better than this.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2013/04/29/nh-man-loses-life-savings-on-carni...

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:35 | 3514849 asscannon101
asscannon101's picture

I laughed so hard at that fucking idiot's sad tale of woe that I shit a little in my pants. Just a little bit though. The abysmal stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me and just when you thought you'd seen it all- here comes this Jersey-Shore-wannabe fuckstick and his banana. You made my day and thank you for sharing. Now I gotta go wipe.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:51 | 3514552 Mercury
Mercury's picture

Sadly, it is the "everyone else" that is the vast majority of the US population. It is this "everyone else" who comprises the bulk of those who have been kicked out of the American Dream, whose core pillar has always been owning your own home (with or without a massive mortgage attached), not renting. As the US Census Bureau reported earlier today, the US homeownership rates in the first quarter of 2013 dropped by another 0.4% to a fresh 18 years low, or 65% - the lowest since 1995!

AKA, the long-term, pre-bubble average. This is no tragedy.  Here's the bigger picture.

The US homeownership rate was around 64% or less for decades and then BOOM, a bunch of market distorting, government programs (many with good intentions) managed to get it uo to ~69%. Those few percentage points were enough to cause a huge bubble which ended in disaster.

You can't have it both ways. All real estate is not created equal and owning a home is not always the best idea (economic or otherwise) for everyone.

Pointing to a "dream" as a benchmark is what got us into this mess in the first place.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:29 | 3514553 dizzyfingers
dizzyfingers's picture

Real estate isn't an investment but a contract to let taxing districts into your pocketbook.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:29 | 3514832 OS2010
OS2010's picture

Don't think for a minute that renters don't pay property tax.  it's simply hidden in the rent checks.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:30 | 3514556 Seasmoke
Seasmoke's picture

Now we must go back to 1995 PRICES !!

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:35 | 3514558 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

And yet, our "near & dear friends" who get lots of "Foreign Aid" from the filthy-rich US tax payers, now has launched its 5th Nuclear-launch capable submarine from the naval shipyard in Kiel, Deutschland.

   http://rt.com/news/israel-dolphin-submarine-nuclear-598/

According to the article, these babies can launch nuclear cruise missiles. 

/ But since Israel officially does not have any nukes, all these can then do is luanch dirty nukes from spent material from its nuke reactor.  In case such a device does go off somewhere, you will be able to distinguish their explosion from those of Ter'rists by their distribution pattern.  The former has a six-star distribution pattern, the latter a crescent-shaped pattern.   This should made the job of prosecuting the perps quite easy -- even for US LEAs (Law Enforcement Agencies). /s

Smile & wave boys. Smile & wave.

/ In other news... Germany to get back its gold from the NY Fed, when sub program completes in 7 years. "Fritz, we'll give you your gold back, when we get our subs."  /s

We are SOOOO messed up as a country. Sad to say.

 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:34 | 3514563 dragoneyes74
dragoneyes74's picture

A real estate friend of mine just posted this on FB:

We have an extremely strong NYC Real Estate market right now. If you are thinking about selling your apartment give me a call! Foreign cash buyers are very abundant. I have not seen anything like this in the 20 years that I have been in NYC.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:49 | 3514606 venturen
venturen's picture

Wow did the banks CRUSH a lot of people or WHAT! They must be happy with glee that so many were crushed and the banks got to steal from taxpayer while doing it! JUST AWESOME. Maybe we indure them too! 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:47 | 3514627 bugs_
bugs_'s picture

I'm sure this doesn't include people that own their SUVs and are living in them.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:03 | 3514641 Floodmaster
Floodmaster's picture

U.S. home builders are way too large, they buy gigantic lots and control everything including prices, custom/self build homes are now for millionaires only. The same beige boxes, nationwide.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 13:59 | 3514687 pierco1
pierco1's picture

So who is buying all the homes?

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:05 | 3514721 Everybodys All ...
Everybodys All American's picture

Blackrock, hedge funds, and banks own alot of them as well. Easier to transfer ownership to the government I suppose which it looks like more and more is going to be the outcome. Just like all other socialist countries.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 15:27 | 3515040 syntaxterror
syntaxterror's picture

China quit building empty cities, so the millions of wealthy there are flocking here to park their money.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:02 | 3514706 Everybodys All ...
Everybodys All American's picture

It would have been nice for one of the WH press corp to ask the president what he thinks of 1995. Too much to ask I know.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:07 | 3514730 syntaxterror
syntaxterror's picture

The new meme is that there can't be a bubble if everyone is buying with cash! Bernanke wasn't around to ZIRP-finance the Tulip bubble hundreds of years ago was he?

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:15 | 3514775 newworldorder
newworldorder's picture

Its not only the cost of a mortgage and house pricing that is the problem. It is also the assessed valuations on homes, from most urban counties that have made home ownership questionable. In the city/northwest suburbs of Crook County, IL as an example, real estate taxes on a 3000 sq feet house have gone from $10,000 1n 2009 to over $13,000 in 2012.

Even with your mortgage fully paid off, the counties are forcing you to become a renter to them. You dont own your retirement home anymore.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 15:14 | 3514990 Atlantis Consigliore
Atlantis Consigliore's picture

crook county,  crook county?  chicago?  let em eat parking meters...LOL

shop downtown in chicago?  whats that......lol 

chicago, lol.....parking meters $ 5 an hour, LOL.....anybody tryin to sell, sell, SELL....

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:23 | 3514805 TrustbutVerify
TrustbutVerify's picture

Are young people actually saving money for the purpose of buying a house at some point?  I wonder if they didn't have the recurring charge of their monthly "smart" phone (not so smart) and related connections how much sooner they could afford a home.  

 

Saving money...what a concept. 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:29 | 3514834 dolph9
dolph9's picture

It's pretty simple.

If you want a society of serfs, make them pay all of their income for inflated housing and rent.  That is the only surefire way to destroy the ability to save.

Marketing works too.  But the best way is to make debt slaves and renters out of everyone.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 15:20 | 3514965 Floodmaster
Floodmaster's picture

Boomers are debt-free and rich, Bernanke and banks are desperate for serfs,It's their biggest problem, they need velocity, debt slaves/boomers ponzi victims are nowhere to be found.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:48 | 3514891 NoWayJose
NoWayJose's picture

The National Homeownership Strategy began in 1994 under President Bill Clinton.  Many believed it was just a gimic and would lead to a housing bubble.  They were correct, it appears...

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 14:57 | 3514929 dojufitz
dojufitz's picture

Buy in Australia.....we have the biggest housing bubble in the world.....greater fools everywhere.....we have negative gearing......where you get rewarded for losing money!

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 15:03 | 3514942 John Law Lives
John Law Lives's picture

Some old crone was on CNN around noon today squawking about how this is a great time to buy a house, and that this is not the start of a new housing bubble in home prices... as home prices are still below previous bubble prices in many areas.  Blather, blather, blather..  The cheerleading never stops.

CNN Old Crone = FUBAR

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 16:24 | 3515295 overdrive
overdrive's picture

Tyler, I must have not had enough Wheaties today.

 

zero-cost subsidized rental pass thru units owned by hedge funds who can therefore keep the rental asking price as high as they wish,

 

I tried to break down that sentence, but can't. What the heck is a "zero-cost subsidized rental pass thru units"?

 

Overdrive

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 16:29 | 3515315 NihilistZero
NihilistZero's picture

I started learning about economics and the FED in 2005 when I learned of the first housing bubble.  Here we are 8 Years later and I still don't feel comfortable buying.  I've wanted to be a Foster Dad so getting a McMansion type 5 bedroom is part of the plan.  I want to help as many kids as I can.  Raise my own tribe of independent thinkers, see if I can make a difference in some lives.  2010 was close to my price range in SoCal's Inland Empire.  Now Ben and his overlords have pushed my goal back for another couple of Years while Bubble 2.0 plays out.  Thanks for fucking up my dream of helping kids Ben.  I spent my teenage years homeless and buying a property means more to me than Blackstone you piece of shit.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 17:13 | 3515493 alfbell
alfbell's picture

 

 

Owning a home is bad economics (unless you are so rich it doesn't matter, or if you have someone else paying your mortgage for you... like a passive income stream from an apartment or other asset that you own). As Kiyosaki said... bad debt is when you have to make the payments, good debt is when someone else (like tenants) is making your payments. Good debt leverages assets and bad debt leverages consumption and liabilities. I've bought homes and done rehabs and flipped them, I've owned rentals and I've built and sold homes. Never in my life of 61 years have I ever owned a home. I've always been a renter (avoiding mortage interest, property taxes, repair and maintenance costs). Of course I don't pay my rent (or my utilities or food for that matter), my rent is free thanks to the passive income stream I get from my assets. Plus, I'm flexible and mobile and can quickly move to any location that I choose for whatever reason or opportunity. This is my American Dream. Screw home ownership. Screw the American Dream. Screw Obama. Screw this government. Screw The Fed. Screw the International Bankers.

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 20:06 | 3516000 Bunga Bunga
Bunga Bunga's picture

How to lose a home? Just buy one.

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