Where "Housing" is Taking Us:
A Call for Action
Edward J. Dodson
[Reprinted from
GroundSwell, May-June, 2005]
The media and most analysts have been talking about the prolonged "housing"
boom that has been going on across the United States now for more than
a decade. Millions of homeowners have experienced huge gains on the
sale of property, often "cashing out" in an area where land
prices have skyrocketed most to move to a part of the country (or
another country) where land costs are far lower. The gain experienced
is put into the bank and into conservative investments, the interest
and dividends supplementing other sources of retirement income.
Few GroundSwell readers would be surprised to learn that for
most households in the United States, housing and land equity
represents the major portion of household net worth. Savings and
investment accounts are generally insufficient to support the same
lifestyle experienced during one's peak earning years of employment.
The United States is not yet -- and is unlikely to ever become -- one
great big land market. Regional differences in weather, culture,
economic activity, and natural amenities affect locational decisions
and population concentrations. If one does not need to work to obtain
income, there are many comparatively low-cost towns and cities one can
move to -- still. At the same time, land and housing prices have
increased almost everywhere. The price of the median-price house
nationally has increased at an average rate of over 8 percent over the
last five years.
Two-thirds of all households in the United States own the homes in
which they live, three out of four subject to some amount of mortgage
debt. Yet, with the land markets operating as they do, millions of
people are essentially reimbursed for a significant portion of their
life-long housing-related expenses. There are two annual subsidies.
Mortgage interest payments and local property taxes are deductible
under the Federal income tax regulations. Additionally, any gain
experienced on the sale of one's primary residence is not subject to
taxation (up to a cumulative maximum of around $600,000, which travels
with you as you sell and buy a new residential property). This system
has created a huge constituency for complexity without any thought to
the impact on the broader economy or on future generations.
A few years ago, I came across a startling statistic: nearly one-half
of all college graduates under the age of 30 were living at home with
parents. The urge to get out on one's own is, today, countered by the
absence of affordable rental housing. Or, when young adults have
sufficient income to lease an apartment, the resulting housing-related
expenses prevent the accumulation of savings toward the purchase of a
home. Living at home with parents affords the young adult the
opportunity to enjoy a high level of non-housing consumption and still
put funds aside. Even so, many parents end up digging into their own
savings to provide adult children with a financial gift to use for a
down payment and toward closing costs for the purchase of a home. For
those young adults whose parents cannot provide gift funds, many
communities offer some level of down payment and closing cost
assistance (often in the form of a zero interest, forgivable loan).
The nation's mortgage finance sector has also come up with innovative
approaches to lending risk that allow "qualified" homebuyers
to borrow 100 percent of the purchase price of a home.
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