“I have no idea why we are doing this, unless we are pawning the family silverware at this point.”
In a way, yes. We’re exporting our housing stock, since we can no longer afford to own it. No different from what Mitch Daniels did in Indiana when he sold off his toll road to a foreign company (or what Governor Perry tried to do here in Texas, except at 20 times the scale).
Yep, our government is desperate to keep the housing market up. A lot of American’s net worth is tied up in their house, so I see this as a cheesy way for these bastards in DC to try to keep their jobs, even for short period of time. Come 2020, Foreigners will be the new slum lords for the renters.