Apartment construction appears to start rising at about the same time that that the home ownership rate starts to drop. Any thoughts?
Posted on 02/03/2026 3:38:26 AM PST by Mount Athos
The first comment of this thread will display this chart. For discussion.
“Another chart I’d like to see. A Stay at home Mom while Dad brings home the bacon chart.”
In my post later on, I asked for stats on whether or not home schooled.
Because "student loans" allowed the college/bank enslaving system to take high school graduates out of the trades, pushing the economic maturity of the young people far past their ability to earn enough to both pay back their loans yet have enough surplus to pay off an additional mortgage bond. Also gave many four-year college degrees of a quality and/or skill set worthless in the labor market.
The government "suppoert" only subsidized the interest payments during the college years, not after. The whole principal plus interest burden fell on the individual the moment he/she graduated whether or not one was employed, eclipsing the ability to qualify for mortgage payments above that.
The nationwide federally subside student borrowing was initiated about 1961, and exponentially exploded thereafter, as did the foolish loaning to individuals who wouldn't pay back the interest, let alone the principal amounts.
Good post.
Imagine an alien race from a distant galaxy invaded and had a plan for quiet and secret long term (hundreds of years) genocide of humans in the most powerful human nation.
That would require getting the birth-rate below replacement levels.
Many tools could be used—well covered by posts on this thread.
But—of course this was all just an accident. There was no invasion of aliens from a distant galaxy.
So—everybody can stay calm.
You changed the topic completely by stripping out the critical marriage component in the title of this thread.
The chart becomes totally uninteresting when you do that.
The chart I posted points to a society on a downward spiral.
I have two sons, both married. One is 33 and the other is 29.
The elder son has two daughters, a stay at home wife, makes about $110K a year in the elevator trades. He rents a home. Says it is impossible to afford a home.
The younger son has no children yet. He bought their home as he was getting married. It is a basic starter home, needs work, but it is theirs. His wife has a part time job because she was bored. He makes about $80K as a law enforcement officer.
In the case of my eldest son, his wife runs the finances. She is very frugal and risk adverse. My youngest son runs the finances in his home and he considers renting to be a waste of money.
Both boys raised in the same house, but taking on very different ideas towards finance.
“She is very frugal”
One possibility is that this isn’t actually true, and explains the difference in results.
Very easy for a single man to save money.
Most men fail to control a wife’s spending.
It is the most common reason for conflict in marriage and probably not comfortable to talk about with each other and even more so with you.
I rent a 4BR house in a nice community. The rent is about half of what it would cost to make a mortgage payment on it. No down payment money is tied up. I dump the savings into the stock market. The returns have been superb and I can move when I want with very little effort. I owned for 40+ years but I doubt I will ever do it again.
I didn’t own a home until I was 37. That was in the mid-90s.
Yes, homes have gone up more than wages - but I was paying 8.5% in interest back then!
So no, I’m not feeling sympathy nor did I ever expect Trump to turn the economy around in 12 months flat.
Top marginal tax rates are interesting to the wealthy. Things like property taxes, sales taxes, gas prices affect the lower middle class more.
You changed the topic completely by stripping out the critical marriage component in the title of this thread.
The chart becomes totally uninteresting when you do that.
The chart I posted points to a society on a downward spiral.
We can be both more affluent and have worse social structure. The two may even be related and co-dependant.
What happens when people do not have to work to easily survive?
Just looked. The percentage of married people has declined from nearly 80% in 1950 to 56% today. That alone could drive the graph in this thread!
Pretty rare these days.
Renter son is paying $2200 a month for a 3 bed, 2 bath, 2400 sf home.
Owner son is paying $1600 a month for a 3 bed, 2 bath, 1800 sf home.
As any democrat on office is
In 2000 at the age of 29 I was married with a home. Being married tbh was the key to be able to afford a house so young even back then.
“What happens when people do not have to work to easily survive?”
The history of portugal, after bringing back a huge amount of gold from the Americas
A 30 year old does not “own” their home. If they are buying a home, their lender has the title; they’re just making payments on it.
Well okay, now we’re going to say anyone with a mortgage doesn’t actually own their home? Okay then.
And why is that?
The incentives are not there.
It is risky to get married and start a family. 50% chance you'll lose everything.
Also, we have Social Security so we don't need to bave kids as we get older.
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