History of U.S Housing Market

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Submitted by scaredycat on October 9, 2009 - 11:36am

Has the U.S. housing market always been seen as a big gamble over the years, or was it seens as a relatively stable investment? Is there a book or article somewhere on the subject. Wouldbe kind of interested to know the history of realtors,, what advertising was like over the last century, what people thought about while buying houses (expectations, fears)... Was it as big a topic of discussion even? If not, when did all this real estate mania start? 70's? 80's? Didn't people used to think there were other ways to become wealthy, like, um, work?

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The REAL sickness only kicked
Submitted by HLS on October 9, 2009 - 2:55pm.

The REAL sickness only kicked in about 6 years ago when no down payment AND lying about income and assets was possible..yes,it's that recent.

In the 1960's nobody in their right mind had anything other than lower end rentals. "Bread and Butter units" 2BR-1BA maybe 3Br-2Ba, but certainly not high end homes as rentals. It was NOT a major topic of discussion. (Nor was the stock market)

In the late 80's many houses were available to buy at 100x monthly gross rent. Assumable financing was easily available on many loans. (Take over someone's existing loan wit almost no qualifying)

Certain areas were always "higher end" with virtually no rentals...

An interesting book is THE COMING REAL ESTATE CRASH by John English & Gray Cardiff,,,written in 1979..

In nominal dollars houses have gone up. In many parts of the country, houses have been a very poor investment. Debt and leverage are key in an inflationary period. Owning property with no debt may not even keep up with inflation in many areas.

Manipulation from the govt and propaganda from the real estate machines have promoted the circus atmosphere.

Bubble markets like SD are the exception, not the rule. Many people got lucky many others haven't been so lucky.

It's still possible to buy rental property that makes sense with today's numbers in almost every state in the nation. Expecting and factoring in ANY appreciation is a huge mistake. It should be a bonus, not an expectation.

Being a landlord isn't for everybody....

thanks for the reference to
Submitted by scaredycat on October 9, 2009 - 3:20pm.

thanks for the reference to the book. I'm going to start looking at books on real estate from the 1900's through the 1970's. I think it could be an interesting article. if anyone knows of any interesting titles from the time frame, let m eknow!

There was a substantial RE
Submitted by pri_dk on October 9, 2009 - 3:33pm.

There was a substantial RE bubble in the 1920's, most of it concentrated in Florida. (The old sayings about "buying swampland in Florida" originated during this time.)

http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/flori...

Speculation was easy-and quick. No long delays while titles were being investigated and deeds recorded; such tiresome formalities were postponed. The prevalent method of sale was thus described by Walter C. Hill of the Retail Credit Company of Atlanta in the Inspection Report issued by his concern: “Lots are bought from blueprints. They look better that way [...]"

Credit was loose back then also, but I don't think there was government backing. Just classic reckless speculation.

The US has had a number of
Submitted by ltokuda on October 9, 2009 - 4:25pm.

The US has had a number of real estate bubbles throughout its history. But until this century, all the real estate bubbles were local. This was the first time that a real estate bubble went national.

I would highly recommend reading the latest edition of "Irrational Exhuberance", by Robert Shiller. The book does a great job of analyzing speculative bubbles and it contains a lot of info about the history of real estate in the US.