Poll of the Day > Percentage of Americans who cant afford their homes is up 146%.

(+) Yeah! (+)

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/real-estate/americans-who-can-t-afford-their-homes-146-percent-n774106

http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/research/state_nations_housing

Over 38 million American households can't afford their housing, an increase of 146 percent in the past 16 years, according to a recent Harvard housing report.

Under federal guidelines, households that spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs are considered "cost burdened" and will have difficulty affording basic necessities like food, clothing, transportation and medical care.

But the number of Americans struggling with their housing costs has risen from almost 16 million in 2001 to 38 million in 2015, according to the Census data crunched in the report. That's more than double.

And despite the overall economic recovery, it's only a small improvement from 2014, going down by about 900,000 households.

When people can't safely afford to pay their mortgages and rent, it isn't just a problem for those with a lower income or people who bit off more house than they can chew.

Housing unaffordability also drags down GDP, slowing down overall economic growth for everyone, said Dan McCue, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, which publishes the annual State of the Nation's Housing report.

"It forces them to constrict spending on other items, which would reduce spending on other parts of the economy. They would buy less, save less, reduce savings," said McCue.

"It may make it more difficult to venture out and start a new company — or, living month to month, they're much less likely to go back to school and get additional training; and may not be in the job that makes them the most productive member of the labor market," McCue told NBC News.

A big factor has been how wages haven't kept pace with rising housing costs.

"For lower income groups, it's even worse than stagnation. It's not keeping up with inflation," said McCue.

Housing costs are being driven by a limited supply of move-in quality, entry-level housing, said Diane Swonk, CEO of DS Economics.

"In the wake of the financial crisis, so much capacity was taken offline," Swonk told NBC News. "Much of the existing stock of housing is still underwater. Many of the entry level houses are in disrepair."

And what building is happening is happening upmarket.

"Builders are less able to downscale and build smaller volumes of smaller homes," said Swonk. "It's restricting supply well below demand, so of course it shows up in price."

Also factoring in is a net decline in migration from Mexico after 2009 that decreased the number of skilled construction workers, and an increase in material costs.

More blood on Trump's hands.

Under federal guidelines, households that spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs are considered "cost burdened" and will have difficulty affording basic necessities like food, clothing, transportation and medical care.

They're delusional, who doesn't pay like 80%?
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I thought the topic title said "up to 146%" and was waiting for the Onion article link inside.

WastelandCowboy posted...

Under federal guidelines, households that spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs are considered "cost burdened" and will have difficulty affording basic necessities like food, clothing, transportation and medical care.

This metric seems like a poor one to me, because the percentage of your income you can devote towards housing (or anything, really) increases with your income. Earning $20k a year and spending half of it on housing is a lot different than earning $400k a year and spending half of it on housing.
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MAGA!!! trump is making us strong!!!
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WastelandCowboy posted...

More blood on Trump's hands.

an increase of 146 percent in the past 16 years

it's only a small improvement from 2014

If this is Trump's fault then the hole in my shoe is Trump's fault too.
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Yellow posted...

WastelandCowboy posted...

More blood on Trump's hands.

an increase of 146 percent in the past 16 years

it's only a small improvement from 2014

If this is Trump's fault then the hole in my shoe is Trump's fault too.

>Missing the joke.

House prices and rent are too fucking expensive and have been for a long time now. The recession provided no reprieve at all for rent and a brief one for houses (but the latter also experienced explosive wildly unreasonable price increases the prior decade so it was quite warranted).
Housing is treated as an investment first and a place to live 2nd in the U.S., with flippers snatching up homes to sell later for much more, wannabe landlords buying them up to rent out, and foreign investors (most notably Chinese, especially after their stock market went to shit a few years ago) buy them up as a stable asset and to ease the process of getting their kids into the country.

The worst part is people have been brainwashed into thinking higher property and housing valuations are a good thing. No other deteriorating physical asset is expected by society to go UP in value over time. Which is made all the more stupid by the fact that unlike most deteriorating physical assets, property gets taxed every year after the initial purchase on a % based on its valuation. "My house is worth $20,000 more! If I sold it today I'd make a good profit! But I'm 40 and in a stable job so that'd be fucking stupid, I'm gonna be living here for decades still... So I guess all I get out of the change is higher taxes... Yay?"

my mom bought my house at 100k 40 years ago
now it's 300k has a 8k property tax on it
my brother and his wife are school teachers
he told me he spends 30k on houses
I see people my age with their husbands and kids
and I can't stand it, but work sucks too so I try to find a job in the future but it's just hopeless I'll probably be a renter even with my degree
because everyone is probably quitting my degree feild which is why there are so many jobs available
you know people used to work until they died? they day they retired was the day they died lol
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Right now my rent is $800 out of my $1588 monthly, that's just the rent and no other expenses
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RoboXgp89 posted...

my mom bought my house at 100k 40 years ago
now it's 300k has a 8k property tax on it
my brother and his wife are school teachers
he told me he spends 30k on houses
I see people my age with their husbands and kids
and I can't stand it, but work sucks too so I try to find a job in the future but it's just hopeless I'll probably be a renter even with my degree
because everyone is probably quitting my degree feild which is why there are so many jobs available
you know people used to work until they died? they day they retired was the day they died lol

That's probably because it sounds like everyone in your field is mentally handicapped.

Tag
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Cacciato posted...

RoboXgp89 posted...

my mom bought my house at 100k 40 years ago
now it's 300k has a 8k property tax on it
my brother and his wife are school teachers
he told me he spends 30k on houses
I see people my age with their husbands and kids
and I can't stand it, but work sucks too so I try to find a job in the future but it's just hopeless I'll probably be a renter even with my degree
because everyone is probably quitting my degree feild which is why there are so many jobs available
you know people used to work until they died? they day they retired was the day they died lol

That's probably because it sounds like everyone in your field is mentally handicapped.

I was a CS major until they tightened the regulations, I'd still be one too if I didn't work full time
now i'm going for IT but the positioned is salaried so no, people going to college to make 100k aren't stupid if they can get 3.5's
I however haven't' so i'll probably work behind a bookcase somewhere...
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RoboXgp89 posted...

my mom bought my house at 100k 40 years ago
now it's 300k has a 8k property tax on it

Where the hell do you live that has property taxes that high?

Man. I thought mine were bad, but my house is worth double that and even I don't have taxes that high.
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it's 2.5% not a lot of populous cities that dont have that...

but you're right they ask for it in two payments
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nationalism started the world wars
when people feel pride in something they ultimately end up destroying themselves and history
before and after for hundreds of years..
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I misread the title as "up to" and had to reread it. This is just going to worse as a larger percentage of the economy is locked away in some McDuck-style money bins.
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Yeah i read like there is 75 trillion dollars here or tucked away over seas and we only operate on like 15 trillion
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Yea this country is fucked finacially what else is new
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I would love to only be putting 30% of my and my wife's income toward paying for our house.