Two quick articles here. The first highlights a recent Gallup poll that found that Americans still believe housing is the best long term investment. Is it the American Dream or is it, as Robert Shiller says, a form of irrationality? (see here for story).
Then there is this piece from the LA Times about the number of middle aged people in California who lost their jobs and homes and had to move back in with their parents:
Driven by economic necessity — Rohr has been chronically unemployed
and her husband lost his job last year — she moved her family back home
with her 77-year-old mother.
At a time when the still sluggish economy has sent a flood of jobless
young adults back home, older people are quietly moving in with their
parents at twice the rate of their younger counterparts.
For seven years through 2012, the number of Californians aged 50 to
64 who live in their parents' homes swelled 67.6% to about 194,000,
according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the Insight
Center for Community Economic Development.
Go here for link .
I think it is a matter of opinion. I do not know too much about what is going on in the Housing Market, but many still associate having a house to living the dream. Many people still believe in the American Dream and that is unlikely to change in the short run.
ReplyDeleteit is definitely a human goal or dream if you will, to own a house they can call their own. although the attitude towards that goal maybe shifting in the next few years (i would say it has already started) where neighborhoods driven by the force of gentrification are attracting consumers to buy luxurious condos instead of owning a house.
ReplyDeleteThe American Dream is still alive. Housing is not necessarily the best investment, though. I read recently that education is actually one of the safest and most beneficial investments.
ReplyDeleteI also think the that the main reason is the American Dream. I really don't know much about the house market in the US but from the little that i know, it is completely different from my country (Zambia). Most Americans seem to view home ownership as a necessity, and they look down upon those who rent. It's almost as if owning a home = being independent, therefore i think it's not really selective memory as the article suggests but rather the need to achieve this "American Dream."
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