February 1, 2011 at 21:46:06

Accelerating to Third World America: One Third of Home Occupants Rent and Eighteen Percent of US Homes Vacant

By Rob Kall (about the author)

opednews.com

The economic and housing crises have wreaked massive changes in how Americans live, as we accelerate our slide into third world status

A quarterly Census report on homeowner vacancy and homeownership states that of the 131 million homes in the US, 112.5 million are occupied and of those, 74.8 are owned. That means that about one third of the occupied homes in the US are being rented.

A smart discussion of the report at CNBC explained that the number of unoccupied homes dropped, but that was because of a big uptick in rentals. The article observes,

Younger Americans have seen what home ownership has done to their friends and families, and many want no part of it. Credit has become very nearly elitist. Home prices, whatever your particular data provider preference might be, are still falling.

Banks, Fannie [ FNM 0.488 0.001 ( +0.21% ) ] and Freddie [ FRE 3.28 0.01 ( +0.31% ) ] are holding on to hundreds of thousands of properties, and we don't know exactly when or how they'll sell them.

Where do you think those 18.5 million homes mortgages are being held. I figure Fannie and Freddie are holding MILLIONS of empty home mortgages. They're going to have to either rent them or sell them-- probably to investors who will turn them into rentals.

Homes have always been one way the middle class has tethered its claim to financial comfort and security. That mooring is eroding quickly, down about five percent in recent years.

As the wealthy take over homeownership, the middle class is being weakened, made more vulnerable-- another signal that we're sliding further into third world status.

flickr Photo by sgroi

Rob Kall is executive editor, publisher and site architect of OpEdNews.com, Host of the Rob Kall Bottom Up Radio Show (WNJC 1360 AM), President of Futurehealth, Inc, more...)

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.