I'd been meaning to write a post on this theme for some time, but Marin Real Estate Bubble beat me to it.
"Housing affordability" has long been a goal for politicians of all political stripes. The solutions have ranged from the creation of monstrous government departments (HUD, FHA) to quasi-government companies (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac). More recently, the solution has been "creative financing," including no money down, no documentation, and pay-option ARMs.
So what have these "housing affordability" efforts done to housing affordability? Before all this, families used to be able to buy a house with a single median-income earner and a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage. Now, families struggle to afford a house even with two incomes. And it's worst in the states with the loosest lending standards.
The law of unintended consequences. Learn it. Know it. Live it.
9.09.2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
-
UPDATE: Edited to remove the guy's name. I hope nobody harasses him or his employer. He was good-natured and his sign was innocuous a...
-
Only the police should have guns, you know. The shocking double murder of a young couple in Irvine turns out to have been suspectedly com...
QE has permanently ruined bonds for investors
You used to earn an interest rate roughly inline with nominal GDP growth, even slightly better. Since the Fed started manipulating interest...
No comments:
Post a Comment