Unsold homes
Why, I wonder, asside from economic issues, are their an estimated 3.86 million houses that were unsold as of July?
economic issues: "Consumers who watched their homes rise rapidly in value over the last several years felt wealthy and more inclined to spend. They also borrowed against their homes -- treating them like ATMs -- to support their spending ways." AP, 8/23/06
---------------------------------updated 8/23/06--------------------------------------
I suppose I have been reading too much of Karel Teige, who did studies of housing in the 1920s-30s in various European countries and found that if all of the existing apartments were modified slightly to become socialist (no private kitchen, communal dining and social areas, etc) then it would provide a roof over everyone's head.
I have relayed several of these theories to my in house communism and socialism expert, and we're in the process of trying to sort out what implications his socialist concepts could have to housing in the US. Thus far, we have a tentative yes it could work if the cost of the housing declined enough for the lower strata to have a greater flexibility in housing that is now associated with the middle to upper classes.
Even if Teige were slightly off his gourd, it's still stunning to compare the numbers of unsold homes to the numbers of homeless in the US: An estimated 3.5 million people experience homelessness in a given year (1% of the entire U.S. population or 10% of its poor), and about 842,000 people on any given day. (from Wikepedia)
economic issues: "Consumers who watched their homes rise rapidly in value over the last several years felt wealthy and more inclined to spend. They also borrowed against their homes -- treating them like ATMs -- to support their spending ways." AP, 8/23/06
---------------------------------updated 8/23/06--------------------------------------
I suppose I have been reading too much of Karel Teige, who did studies of housing in the 1920s-30s in various European countries and found that if all of the existing apartments were modified slightly to become socialist (no private kitchen, communal dining and social areas, etc) then it would provide a roof over everyone's head.
I have relayed several of these theories to my in house communism and socialism expert, and we're in the process of trying to sort out what implications his socialist concepts could have to housing in the US. Thus far, we have a tentative yes it could work if the cost of the housing declined enough for the lower strata to have a greater flexibility in housing that is now associated with the middle to upper classes.
Even if Teige were slightly off his gourd, it's still stunning to compare the numbers of unsold homes to the numbers of homeless in the US: An estimated 3.5 million people experience homelessness in a given year (1% of the entire U.S. population or 10% of its poor), and about 842,000 people on any given day. (from Wikepedia)
posted by Heather at 10:50 AM
1 Comments:
I think the answer lies with the Federal Reserve. When the Fed reduced interest rates to extremely low levels (1%) homeowners refinanced, speculators entered the market and new mortgage products lured buyers of all ilks. Now, with rates are way up, people can't afford such expensive houses, speculators are stuck with properties they can't flip and variable rate mortgages are taxing homeowners' ability to pay.
Make sense?
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