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America is so over homeownership: Why the shift to a renting economy might actually be a good thing
SALON ^ | 08/30/2014 | HENRY GRABAR

Posted on 08/31/2014 7:53:15 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Between 1970 and 1990, the population of Philadelphia shrank by a quarter, dropping from 1.95 to 1.59 million. Like many American cities, it seemed caught in a downward spiral.

Since then – like many American cities – Philadelphia has stabilized. The population now appears to have bottomed out at the millennium, and has been regaining residents over the past decade. But as it rebounds, Philly is becoming a different kind of city.

In the two most recent decades, which comprise the bounce of the city’s population curve, owner-occupied housing dropped even more steeply than in the ’70s and ’80s. Between 2000 and 2012, the percentage of Philly houses and apartments inhabited by owners dropped from 59 to 52, the second-sharpest decline among big U.S. cities during that time.

Meanwhile, renter-occupied housing exploded. More units are rented today in Philadelphia than in 1970, despite 400,000 fewer residents. According to a report from Pew Charitable Trusts, the size of the Philadelphia rental stock has grown by 37,000 since the millennium — a gain of more than 10 percent.

Philadelphia is a concentrated case of a larger trend in American housing: We are increasingly renting instead of buying our homes. Rental household growth is rising at double the rate it has in previous decades. Developers are building more multi-family units than they have in years. Last month, the homeownership rate fell to a 19-year low, down to 64.7 percent from a peak of 69.2 percent in 2004.

(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: americaindecline; homeownership; housing; housingbubble; rentersmarket; renting; standardofliving
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1 posted on 08/31/2014 7:53:15 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Right. So if a population has no savings or investments, we can ensure that the third leg of the stool, equity, is also non-existent.


2 posted on 08/31/2014 7:56:02 PM PDT by lurk
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To: SeekAndFind
See, you rubes don't need 3,000+ sq ft homes out in the suburbs and county/parish roads wasting water and trying to grow vegetables so you can can them into Mason jars.

You need to live in densely packed cities, in high-rises so we can control your ass!

3 posted on 08/31/2014 7:56:53 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: SeekAndFind
Next up, "Why Debt Peonage is Good For You"

Signed, the Obama Administration and the Soros Project

4 posted on 08/31/2014 7:57:40 PM PDT by Regulator
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To: SeekAndFind; GeronL; Slings and Arrows

The American Dream was overrated anyway... < /sarc >


5 posted on 08/31/2014 7:58:09 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (ISIS has started up a slave trade in Iraq. Mission accomplshed, Barack, Mission accomplished.)
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To: SeekAndFind
And given a few more years of the current Regime, we'll all live in rental properties Gulags.



America demands Justice for the Fallen of Benghazi!

O stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here, obedient to their command.

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

6 posted on 08/31/2014 8:03:57 PM PDT by ConorMacNessa (HM/2 USN, 3/5 Marines RVN 1969 - St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in Battle!)
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To: SeekAndFind

So Salon thinks that financial independence is undesirable.

Somehow I’m not surprised.


7 posted on 08/31/2014 8:04:18 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a stBut is it grammatically catement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Actually, we need faceless, cold apartment buildings controlled by the government who allots them out, first to good party members and then to others. See how welcoming and warm the will be by referencing North Korea, Russia and other workers paradises.


8 posted on 08/31/2014 8:05:09 PM PDT by JimSEA
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To: SeekAndFind

aye forget about the kids which you have, and they can inherit or live there , forget about having your own place. The American dream is now obamas dream which is to rent and never own


9 posted on 08/31/2014 8:05:57 PM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: SeekAndFind

And how many of those “rentals” are Section 8 government subsidized? You can probably trace a direct correlation between growth of Section 8 housing and flight of home owners out of particular communities. Good luck on getting those stats from the government though.


10 posted on 08/31/2014 8:08:23 PM PDT by anymouse (God didn't write this sitcom we call life, he's just the critic.)
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To: SeekAndFind

The Obama’s promised to destroy the American dream and succeeded


11 posted on 08/31/2014 8:09:13 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: a fool in paradise

or as Michele Obama called it “middle-classism”


12 posted on 08/31/2014 8:11:41 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: SeekAndFind

Liberal elites gush over renting... and a ‘brown’ county... and not having ‘stuff’. It’s a fashion statement. Kind of like being ‘groovy’ was to the sixties. Shallow and ‘in’... superficial and silly... very ‘salon’.


13 posted on 08/31/2014 8:12:29 PM PDT by GOPJ (Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil. - Thomas Mann)
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To: SeekAndFind

Landlords can be demonized and taxed. Prop 13 in California wiping out a huge tax base would not have succeeded in a rental economy.

Tenants can be gifted with rent controls.


14 posted on 08/31/2014 8:13:11 PM PDT by the_Watchman
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

My 3100 sf home was the smallest in the neighborhood


15 posted on 08/31/2014 8:15:17 PM PDT by TexasGator
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To: SeekAndFind
The deep thinkers at Salon are ahead of the curve here. Somebody has to own these rentals, and if that's a private individual you have a heartless, money-grubbing capitalist slumlord squeezing the lifeblood out of the oppressed masses. On the other hand, if it's the government, you have a barracks. Your choice.
16 posted on 08/31/2014 8:17:16 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: SeekAndFind

People care for homes they own...they don’t care for homes they rent.It’s that simple.Home ownership has been one of the main driving forces of prosperity here for 60+ years.


17 posted on 08/31/2014 8:28:27 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Islamopobia:The Irrational Fear Of Being Beheaded)
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To: SeekAndFind

What a pant load. People aren’t buying because their credit is bad or non-existent, and they can’t afford downpayments. And they can’t count on keeping a job more than a year.


18 posted on 08/31/2014 8:29:07 PM PDT by vpintheak (I will not comply!)
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To: vpintheak

Well, with all of those combined credit and salary problems, how can they even afford to rent anything? What landlord will even consider them as tenants?


19 posted on 08/31/2014 8:30:23 PM PDT by SeekAndFind (If at first you don't succeed, put it out for beta test.)
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To: SeekAndFind
94% of the domiciles in my town are owner-occupied. I am sure it is no coincidence that my town has the lowest crime rate in our county as well. We are not some rich suburb either. I'm guessing the median home price is around $130,000.

Home owners are stable, and less likely to vandalize, steal, rob, and do other stupid stuff.

20 posted on 08/31/2014 8:37:19 PM PDT by Pappy Smear
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