Absolutely
by beatvibe
Posted to Poetry and Politics on 2004-06-14 09:48:00
Parent message is 662195
And the fact that more people are buying expensive homes does not necessarily mean that they have the money. It might just mean they’ve assumed more debt.
I live in an area where people are pushing their (precarious) dual incomes to the limit and mortgaging over 40-60 years on $500,000+ homes. In all likelihood, they will never actually own these homes. Even at low rates, these are not good equity vehicles — particularly considering the initial selling prices and negligible down payments. So this raises another question: What are we to make of all these new home “sales” if it’s really the financial institutions that own them?
With “new money” often synonymous with new debt (grossly disproportionate to worth or income), “home ownership” is increasingly becoming a misnomer.