Housing crisis in the USA?

[MAC33]

29 absolutely crazy statistics about the housing crisis that show just how nightmarish the U.S. housing market is right now....

 

#1 During the first three months of this year, less new homes were sold in the U.S. than in any three month period ever recorded.

 

#2 Home prices just keep falling month after month. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city index has fallen for seven months in a row.

 

#3 U.S. home prices have now declined 32% from the peak of the housing bubble.

 

#4 In Phoenix, Arizona home prices are now down 56% from the peak of the housing bubble.

 

#5 Home prices in Las Vegas, Nevada are now down 58% from the peak of the housing bubble.

 

#6 Nearly 70 percent of all Las Vegas mortgages are now underwater.

 

#7 Due to the housing crisis, there are now more than 167,000 vacant homes in the state of Nevada.

 

#8 It is estimated that 25% of all mortgages in Miami-Dade County are "in serious distress and headed for either foreclosure or short sale".

 

#9 According to a recent census report, 13% of all homes in the United States are sitting empty.

 

#10 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18 percent of all homes in the state of Florida are sitting vacant. That number is 63 percent larger than it was just ten years ago.

 

#11 In the city of Detroit alone, there are more than 33,000 abandoned homes.

 

#12 The average home in the city of Merced, California has declined in value by 63 percent over the past four years.

 

#13 U.S. home values have fallen an astounding 6.3 trillion dollars since the housing crisis first began.

 

#14 California had more foreclosure filings that any other U.S. state during 2010. The 546,669 total foreclosure filings during the year means that over 4 percent of all the housing units in the state of California received a foreclosure filing at some point during 2010.

 

#15 Total home mortgage debt in the United States is now about 5 times larger than it was just 20 years ago.

 

#16 Approximately 26 percent of all renters in the United States spend more than half their pre-tax income on rent.

 

#17 It is estimated that 49 percent of all American renters are paying out more in rent than they can afford.

 

#18 In 1996, 89 percent of Americans believed that it was better to own a home than to rent one. Today that number has fallen to 63 percent.

 

#19 72 percent of the major metropolitan areas in the United States had more foreclosures in 2010 than they did in 2009.

 

#20 Two years ago, the average U.S. homeowner that was being foreclosed upon had not made a mortgage payment in 11 months. Today, the average U.S. homeowner that is being foreclosed upon has not made a mortgage payment in 17 months.

 

#21 In September 2008, 33 percent of Americans knew someone who had been foreclosed upon or who was facing the threat of foreclosure. Today that number has risen to 48 percent.

 

#22 During the month of January, it was estimated that there were 1.8 million distressed homes in the United States that had yet to be listed for sale. Many analysts believe that this "shadow inventory" will extend the housing crisis for several more years.

 

#23 In February, U.S. housing starts experienced their largest decline in 27 years.

 

#24 Now home sales in the United States are now down 80% from the peak in July 2005.

 

#25 Bank repossessions and short sales now make up approximately 30 percent of all home sales in the United States.

 

#26 As of the end of 2010, new home sales in the United States had declined for five straight years, and they are expected to be lower once again in 2011.

 

#27 31 percent of the homeowners that responded to a recent Rasmussen Reports survey indicated that they are "underwater" on their mortgages.

 

#28 Deutsche Bank is projecting that 48 percent of all U.S. mortgages could have negative equity by the end of 2011.

 

#29 According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, at least 8 million Americans are currently at least one month behind on their mortgage payments.

 

 

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=35102

[Bulgarian]

I'd love a house in Phoenix, nows the time I guess.

[Longcol]

29 absolutely crazy statistics about the housing crisis that show just how nightmarish the U.S. housing market is right now....

 

 

Here in England we talk of nothing else

[Rupert_Baehr]

I'd love a house in Phoenix, nows the time I guess.

 

Indeed it is. Anywhere where there is an ageing population (or a large number of retired people) has plenty of bargains.

 

People aren't moving into those areas as quickly as they used to, because they are probably having difficulty in selling houses elsewhere. Those who live there are still dying and moving into 'assisted living' at the same rate, however and most of the houses owned by retirees are paid off. The guy who sold his house to me is 95, moved out a year ago, has no relatives and would rather have the money now than let the government take it when he dies. (He's not hard up - the place he's living in costs him $9000 a month.)

 

The 'rebuild' cost of my house is about $260,000. - I paid $96,000 for it. ($73,000 after I deducted the cost of the building plot I sold back. £44,000 net. What does that buy in Sheffield?) 3 beds, 2 baths, 3 receps, 2300 Sq ft, double garage. It's certainly 'affordable housing'.

 

The markets do vary considerably from place to place, however. Those places which saw the most exorbitant price gains are now seeing the biggest losses. Those where prices didn't soar are 'ticking over.' Where I used to live in Mississippi, house sales are down by about 25% and prices are down by about 10 - 15%

 

Another factor which increases the number of vacant properties is the ability - at law - to simply 'walk away' from a house. If your house becomes worth less than the outstanding loan on it, you can simply cut your losses and leave. The banks aren't interested in owning houses and you can pick up a 'repo' for a fraction of its original cost. - Usually way under the building cost.

 

It's not all bad news. - Property speculators certainly caught a cold, as did those who were stupid enough to saddle themselves with unrealistically-high mortgages (and then lost their jobs.) 'New Housing Starts' have been, for many years, considered to be a 'leading economic indicator' in the US. A reduction in new builds is seen as 'damaging' but given that the cost of building a house is, in many areas, far more than the cost of buying an existing house and that there are many houses on the market, it's hardly surprising that builders aren't prepared to borrow money to build houses.

 

In some ways, the availability of cheap houses is stimulating the economy. The town in which I used to live has the highest number (per capita) of engineers in the world. Housing is (comparatively) cheap to buy and employers aren't obliged to offer hefty financial inducements to attract well-qualified people. The economy is recovering steadily in that area.

 

Those who have lost their houses are forced to live with friends, to live in (rather less salubrious) apartments or onto the streets. Traditionally, fewer people in the US own houses than do in the UK. The surge in demand for rental properties has probably caused a shortage (in some areas) and it will be a while before that shortage is met.

 

When I came back to Germany in 2008, I rented out my house in Vicksburg. At that time, there were 3 (yes, THREE) houses offered for rent. - I didn't have to wait too long to get a tenant. (You could get an apartment readily enough, but not a house.)

 

The agent who handled the lease for me was an absolute tosser! The tenant seemed like a good tenant. Single, in his 70's, didn't smoke, no pets. It worked well for a while. Then he didn't pay the rent. The agent told me that the tenant was unable to pay because he was in hospital.

 

Actually, it wasn't a hospital ... he was in the county jail. I got rid of him (though he nicked my washer and dryer) and got another tenant. (The original tenant was a con-man. He may well have been in hospital - but now he's in an even bigger hospital ... the Federal Pen in Tennessee.) We'll talk about my washer and dryer and the rent he owes me when he gets out next September ... and I hit him with a 'gate arrest' warrant.

 

My second tenant was a nuclear engineer at the power station down the road. Nice guy, but when he left I was stuck with a bill for $2500 to repair the damage (as I said, I had a lousy agent.)

 

The house is now offered for sale - but if it doesn't sell by July, I will rent it out yet again. (I've now got a decent realtor looking after it.)

 

My son lives in the UK (at the moment.) As an Electronics Engineer with a Master's degree, he can probably expect to get (or hope to get) a job paying about £30-35k. On that money, given house prices in the UK, he won't ever be able to afford to buy a decent house.

 

If he was living in Germany, he could expect to earn somewhere between £49-66k.

 

If he was living in Vicksburg (or on the Space Coast in Florida) he could expect to make about £50-55k ... but he would be able to afford to buy a very comfortable house.

 

If you want to buy a house in Phoenix (and you can live in it) - go for it! - Now is the time to buy.

 

The US is getting far more difficult to move to. When I bought my house in Florida, I had to set up utility accounts. When I reied to do that, I was told (by the water company) that I needed to produce my Social Security card to register the account.

 

You what? - I do have a Social Security card; it's a scrappy piece of paper!

 

According to SSA: "We only give you this tatty piece of paper, because it is not an ID card. You will seldom (if ever) be required to produce it. What IS important is that you know your Social Security Number."

 

That's changed. No Social Security card - no water account. No water account - no house.

 

Do you have a US driving licence? I tried to exchange my Mississippi DL for a Florida DL in February.

 

No chance! "We need to see 2 forms of identity, a utility bill and your Social Security card."

 

The contract to buy the house didn't count, they wouldn't accept 'Federal ID' and I didn't have the effing social security card with me.

 

Florida is the only place in the world I've come across where you have to produce your social security card to get a bloody glass of water!:hihi:

 

Moving into the US is getting to be very difficult.

 

A poster on another thread asked about living in the US. An 'E2' visa is one way (but check the horror stories ... if your business doesn't make the amount of money you hoped it would make you could lose your shirt - and be deported.)

 

A 'Green Card' is the other way. Not so easy to get and in many cases, there are limitations.

 

If you are a 'Resident Alium' with a Green Card and you are out of the US for more than one Calendar year, you lose it and you won't be allowed back in. If you move to the US, you'd better be prepared to stay there.

 

(I've spent 3 or 4 years or so in the US during the last 20-odd years since I got my 'green card' (and mine's blue) but as I said 'in many cases'.)

 

I have a number of British friends who own houses in the US. Recent changes in US immigration law (such as non-residents only being permitted to stay in the country for a maximum of 3 months per annum) may make life difficult for them.

 

OK - If you've got enough money. you might buy a house in (say) Florida which you intend to use for only 3 months of the year (December, January and February would do) but how do you get around the SSN issue?

 

The laws - or rather the interpretation of the laws - were designed to stop illegal immigrants ... not wealthy smart Brits who want a few months in the sun during the winter.

 

Is this affecting them? (I don't know.)

[Harleyman]

It's difficult to qualify for a home loan these days because banks and lending institutions are being extremely careful not to end up being saddled with the huge amount of bad home loans which got them into big trouble back in 2009.

 

Everything went crazy during the housing boom years. People were getting loans which a few years before they would never have qualified for. These loans were set up so that for the first few years of the mortgage they made payments against the loan interest only so this kept the payments affordable but then when that time was up and they had to start making payments against the principal they just couldn't afford to and they were foreclosed on and out in the street and the banks were left holding millions of bad loans on the books

 

It's a good time for those who have some capital to invest in property. I just bought a house in Flagstaff, Arizona which we will use for a few months in summer and get away from the smoggy So California air.

[Harleyman]

I'd love a house in Phoenix, nows the time I guess.

 

 

 

If you like temps around 115-120 Fahrenheit all through summer Phoenix is the place for you. Not for me though.

People mow their lawns at three in the morning just to beat the heat

[Harleyman]

A further comment.

The great majority of Americans own their homes whereas in Britain the majority still live in government or council housing or rent their flats and homes from private landlords

[alternageek]

A further comment.

The great majority of Americans own their homes whereas in Britain the majority still live in government or council housing or rent their flats and homes from private landlords

 

This is no longer true. Everyone I know owns their own home. Maybe in previous generations it was more common place to rent, but not so any more. My grandparents rented from the council (London) for over 50 years and bought in the early 90s. Sold and moved on to a bungalow outside Kings Lynn. They only rented for so long because they didnt want to have a mortgage. Which was smart - own your home outright.

 

Most of the people I know back home (aged in their early 30s) cant afford to buy and are either renting or living in their parents basements.

[chem1st]

You don't get housing benefit in the USA.

 

Landlords can't live off your poverty. Your in a tent next door to your landlord as equals. Or get a proper job and live quite well. In the UK you slave away, go bust, or profit off of the backs of others.

[Harleyman]

You don't get housing benefit in the USA.

 

Landlords can't live off your poverty. Your in a tent next door to your landlord as equals. Or get a proper job and live quite well. In the UK you slave away, go bust, or profit off of the backs of others.

 

 

The housing benefits in the US are low rents for people with low incomes in what's called Section 8 housing, equal to council housing in Britain and Section 8 is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Housing Authority. They're sometimes called "public housing" or "the projects" and not the kind of places you'd want to live in if they're located in the inner city areas