Government Housing Policy On Home Ownership Rates

The mortgage crisis of 2007 marked catastrophe for millions of homeowners who suffered from foreclosure and short sales. Most of the problems involving the foreclosing of families’ homes could boil down to risky borrowing and lending. Lenders were pushed to ensure families would be eligible for a loan, when in previous years the same families would have been deemed too high-risk to obtain any kind of loan. With the increase in high-risk families obtaining loans, there was a huge increase in home buyers and subsequently a rapid increase in home prices. As a result, prices peaked and then began falling just as fast as they rose. Soon after families began to default on their mortgages forcing them either into foreclosure or short sales. Who was to blame for the risky lending and borrowing that caused the mortgage meltdown? Many might blame the company Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but in reality the entire system of buying and selling and free market failed home owners and the housing economy.

The housing crisis of 2008 can trace its origins back to the stock market trends of the mid- to late 90 's. During a period of extended growth in the stock market, increased individual wealth among investors led to generalized increases in spending, including in the housing market. With more disposable income in the pockets of consumers, the demand for housing increased in the late 90 's. Due to the fact that homes are large projects and their construction takes a large amount of time, the supply of homes in the market is inelastic on the short term. Because of the fixed supply of homes, as per the law of supply, which

For many years, the idea that ones’ home being the largest investment was said as a complete sentence when in fact, it was only an incomplete sentence. Any duly licensed financial planner would finish that sentence by saying all investments are subject to market conditions, the value that investment could increase or decrease and other similar cautionary statements that their attorneys wrote to protect them. The American public only heard that their home was the largest investment and had never experienced, nor had their parents seen the value of their personal homes drop like they did in the past few years. They had never experienced the financial pain and although only a few years have passed, many have forgotten and are ready to jump right back into homeownership.

The housing crisis of the late 2000s rocked the economy and changed the landscape of the real estate business for years to come. Decades of people purchasing houses unfordable houses and properties with lenient loans policies led to a collective housing bubble. When the banking system faltered and the economy wilted, interest rates were raised, mortgages increased, and people lost their jobs amidst the chaos. This all culminated in tens of thousands of American losing their houses to foreclosures and short sales, as they could no longer afford the mortgage payments on their homes. The United States entered a recession and homeownership no longer appeared to be a feasible goal as many questioned whether the country could continue to support a middle-class. Former home owners became renters and in some cases homeless as the American Dream was delayed with no foreseeable return. While the future of the economy looked bleak, conditions gradually improved. American citizens regained their jobs, the United States government bailed out the banking industry, and regulations were put in place to deter such events as the mortgage crash from ever taking place again. The path to homeowner ship has been forever altered, as loans in general are now more difficult to acquire and can be accompanied by a substantial down payment.

In conclusion, homeownership in the United States have decline over the past years even being the lowest it has ever been, but has had an improving and strong market beginning in 2012 after a 27% decline from the 2006 peak, and the increasing homeownership rate is a worthwhile policy to allow the United State economy to

As we now know, the U.S. economy, the middle class, and its job growth was damaged by the overwhelming collapse of Wall Street, which was triggered by the downfall of the housing market and sub-prime loan defaults. One of the main things that need to be addressed in our economy today is the housing market and making sure that our banks and credit unions are not allowing people who do not have the necessary income to pay their mortgage disbursements. In an article entitled Thinking outside the Housing Bubble, the author John Vogel remarks how the economy is generally supported by the housing market. Vogel states:

Statistically, one out of seven families live in severe physical deficient housing. In fact, the housing and stock market revealed in July of 2009 that the Great Recession further widened the gap and income disparity between the average, hard-working Americans and the top 1% of wealthy Americans. Edward N. Wolff suggests that the average American produced a massive 36.1% drop in overall marketable assets while the top 1% of wealthy Americans only lost 11.1%. This income gap disparity ensures that ever-increasing need for affordable housing as the economic crisis worsens.

“Growing income inequality in the United States stemming from unequal access to quality education led to political pressure for more housing credit. This pressure created a serious fault line that led to distorted lending in the financial sector.” (Rajan,2010, P.54)

The financial crisis emerged because of an excessive deregulation of business operation of financial institutions and of abusing the securitization mechanism in the absence of clearly defined rules to regulate this area in the American mortgage market (Krstić, Jemović, & Radojičić, 2013). Deregulation gives larger banks the opportunity to loosen underwriting lender guidelines and generate increase opportunity for homeownership (Kroszner & Strahan, 2013). After deregulation, banks utilized many versions of mortgage loans. Mortgage loans such as subprime and Alternative-A paper loans became available for borrowers challenged to find mortgage lenders before deregulation (Elbarouki, 2016; Palmer, 2015). The housing market has been severely affected by fluctuating interest rates and the requirement of large down payment (Follain, & Giertz, 2013). The subprime lending crisis has taken a toll on the nation’s economy since 2007. Individuals who lacked sufficient credit ratings or down payments resorted to subprime mortgages to finance their homes Defaults on subprime and other mortgages precipitated the foreclosure crisis, which contributed to the recent recession and national financial crisis (Odetunde, 2015). Subprime mortgages were appropriate for borrowers with substandard credit and Alternate-A paper loans were

All the economy’s parts seem to be working together for a change: joblessness is under 5% - a 24 year low – yet inflation is holding steady at 3%, a combination that economists thought impossible” (Pooley). This article placed the economy in very favorable position, but the economy collapsed back in 2008 when Wall Street folded. In a video published by Johnathan Jarvis titled “The Cause and Effects of the 2008 Financial Crisis,” the video explains how the economy went from being healthy and vibrant, to desperate and helpless because investors were creating mortgages with people who were not financially stable, and those mortgagors were more than likely struggling to pay their debts prior to attaining a sub-prime mortgage loan. When these sub-prime mortgages defaulted, the house was reposed by the mortgagee and put on the market to sell. When the house went up for sale because of the default, the

Macroeconomics is an excellent tool for the analysis of the housing industry as something like a capital good, as a home is considered to be, cannot easily be studied in a short-term platform. Real estate is a good that costs several times more than an average persons annual income, in the United States that number is typically 7 times as much, and in the United Kingdom that number is 14 times as much. Several factors of both supply and demand directly impact the housing market on a macroeconomic scale. (Business Economics, 1)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s affordable housing initiatives of the 1930s were responsible for the rapid expansion of home ownership and economic stability throughout the United States following The Great Depression of 1929 (Allen and Barth, 2012). Leading economists have viewed affordable housing as one of the key components of a healthy economy ever since. (Bluhm, Overbeck and Wagner, 2010). The Federal National Mortgage Association conceived during the time of his administration, provided an abundant amount of affordable housing through low down payment mortgages extended over a 30-Year period. In 1940 the median price of a single family home in the U.S. was approximately two times an average borrower’s median income. The Housing Cost

In the beginning days of the 21st century, the United States experience an increase in the price of real estate. The causes of the housing bubble were many and, even after it collapse in 2007, the causes for it creation are still under scrutiny. As parties are still blaming each other, the losing party in this crisis is the general public as they have been made responsible for it aftermath through the collectivization of the financial cost. Inquiries into the causes of the housing bubble and its eventual collapse has brought to light an ever increasing number of players responsible for its creation, some going back t the 1970s.

One of the first indications of the late 2000 financial crisis that led to downward spiral known as the “Recession” was the subprime mortgages; known as the “mortgage mess”. A few years earlier the substantial boom of the housing market led to the uprising of mortgage loans. Because interest rates were low, investors took advantage of the low rates to buy homes that they could in return ‘flip’ (reselling) and homeowners bought homes that they typically wouldn’t have been able to afford. High interest rates usually keep people from borrowing money because it limits the amount available to use for an investment. But the creation of the subprime mortgage

Establish Credibility: According to US News, the great American dream of owning a home appears poised for a comeback. Real estate company Trulia reports that in many parts of the country, rents are rising while housing prices are falling, making buying a home more affordable. Trulia found that in 98 out of 100 major metropolitan areas, including Detroit, Atlanta, and Cleveland, buying has become more affordable than renting.” I think the mortgage catastrophe of 2001 left prospective home buyers afraid of buying a house without being extremely certain that is the right decision.