Eco Realty Blog Interesting article on the trend away from home ownership

Is current housing weakness a fundamental shift away from home ownership?Housing sector weakness may be a sign of a change in attitudes away from home ownership as defining the American Dream.When house prices crashed in 2008, we had an opportunity to usher in a new era of affordable housing with a lower percentage of income devoted to housing in the United States. With less income going toward housing, more income is freed up to spend on other goods and services, stimulating the economy in a sustainable way.However, that isn't what politicians decided to do. No, they decided to bail out the banks with a plethora of bailouts aimed at supporting the banks and the loanowners who owed them money. If we had purged the excessive debts created during the housing-credit bubble through foreclosure and recycling the homes, we would be enjoying low, affordable house prices and a strongly growing economy. Instead, we have a weak economy and a weak housing market.Houses are as expensive as current income levels can push them at near record low interest rates. Housing is weak because job and wage growth is weak, and marginal buyers are getting priced out. It's really not more complicated than that. And since buyers are now forced to pay the maximum amount their incomes can afford, less disposable income is available to spend on goods and services, weakening the economy.