Future Of Home Sweet Home May Be Fewer People Owning

[marmar]

from Investors Business Daily, via Yahoo!:



Future Of Home Sweet Home May Be Fewer People Owning
On Thursday June 3, 2010, 5:45 pm EDT


Does the American Dream still hinge on owning a home, or has the nightmare of the housing bust forever altered homebuying reality?

That depends on whom you ask.

Demographers and economists are analyzing statistics, putting out reports and disagreeing: Some see the homeownership rate resurging to boom levels again. Others expect that in years to come, fewer Americans will buy.

But many researchers agree on a few things. They expect that the age when a first-time homebuyer takes the plunge may rise. They see retirees more apt to stay put than downsize to a warmer climate. And they think urban and suburban town centers will gain popularity among homebuyers, while outer suburbs will lose fans.

This is the first time most citizens have "experienced a national house price decline," said David Crowe, chief economist with the National Association of Home Builders. The last time one happened was the Great Depression, he says. "This experience is going to affect the way people think about their house in the future."

U.S. Census data show a steady decline in homeownership rates since the peak of 69.1% in the first quarter of 2005 to 67.1% in the first quarter of 2010. Over much of that time, loose lending tightened and foreclosures rose. Then came a recession. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Future-Of-Home-Sweet-Home-May-ibd-4020891754.html?x=0

[ixion]

1. "outer suburbs" = exurbs. And I'm fine with them losing fans.

because that leaves more room for those of us who do enjoy living outside the confines of an urban or suburban environment.

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

[SoCalDem]

3. Large homes might be once again turned into "rooming houses"

and after some years like that,they will be shabby, and on the market as "fixers" for the people who can scrape together enough for a down payment.. This is the cycle that used to prevail..

30-somethings who had saved and scrimped, would buy a rundown fixer and raise their kids in it, then sell to a young couple who would again fix it up, as the older folks downsized or maybe moved up a bit..

people paid off their mortgages and lived in their homes for a very long time.. the "family-home" meant just that.. a home where the kids grew up in neighborhood where they knew everyone..

our sons often talk about how cool it was to have grown up in the same place for their whole young-lives.. (we bought this house when our oldest was 7 & the youngest was 2)...we're still here..

The ratcheting-up of housing is what caused a lot of the bubble.. people kept buying more house than they had paycheck for, and all it takes is for one income to go away.

Women screamed bloody murder back in the day when the banks would not count their income toward the qualification for a mortgage, but there was some wisdom in it.. If you could afford the home on one income (usually the man's back then), you could weather most storms, and Mom could stay home with the little ones if she chose to.

People used to raise 5 or 6 kids in a 900-1100 sq ft house, and now some think that 2K is "too small".

but then back then the kids shared toys and rooms and people did not shop recreationally..