“A serious housing policy should recognize that renting can be a better option for many Americans, especially for tens of millions of families with low and moderate incomes. The country cannot allow its housing policy to be determined by ideology or the interest groups that benefit from this ideology”.
-Dean Baker in the Washington Post, this last weekend
Interestingly enough, when I open the wpost link, a pop-up about low-mortgage rates is shown. Ironic!
While the entire article is a good one, I especailly liked this portion:
“While there are losers in this story, there are also winners. The transaction costs borne by home buyers are income for those in the real estate industry. Upwards of 2 million subprime borrowers are expected to default in the next few years, with as many as 20 percent of subprime borrowers being hit over this period. If the average purchase price for these borrowers’ homes was $200,000, these home buyers would have generated close to $40 billion in real estate and mortgage fees. That considerable sum is likely to persuade many to hear the gospel of the ownership society.”
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