Forget about homeownership being the American Dream. We're rapidly becoming a "Renter
Nation"! The details ..
* The toxic combination of higher down payment requirements,
tighter lending standards, excessive student debt loads, and more is driving
some first-time buyers out of the market. But others simply do not WANT to own,
even if they could!
Roughly 1-in-5 "millennials" — the prime demographic group that would otherwise
provide a big chunk of first-time buyer demand — now are choosing to rent because of the
flexibility it provides. That's up from
16 percent a couple years ago. Result:
* First-time buyers account for only around a fourth of U.S.
home purchases now. That's far below the typical rate of around 40 percent.
* Without first-time buyers to buoy demand, the national
homeownership rate sank even further to 64.7 percent in the second quarter of
this year from 65 percent a year earlier. That was the lowest reading since
1995 — 19 long years ago!
Sep 12, 2014 7:32 AM
Comments
The loss of manufacturing jobs and excessive legal and
illegal immigration since 1989 have accumulated to create a real 37%
unemployment rate. Most of these are
young folks who would have taken these manufacturing jobs. The drop in first-time
home buyers is no surprise. Many
“millennials” are unmarried, many have student loan debt, many took their first
job much later in life than their parents.
Home ownership has traditionally accompanied marriage and
children. Couples with jobs and little
debt will continue to buy homes if they have children. Singles with no jobs will live with their
mom. Some singles with minimum-wage jobs
will crash together in an apartment with friends. Singles with children live with grandma. These are folks who neglected to get married
before they had kids. We do have a
larger malaise of “millennials” who cannot support themselves than we’ve had in
past generations. Our job is to restore our economy before these “millennials”
are “seniors”.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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