The Poor Are Better Off Renting – The Wall Street Journal
The excesses of the subprime mortgages pushed many low-income Americans into this untenable position. But despite the terrible fallout, few in Washington challenge the notion that home ownership is for everyone.
Repossession can be ‘best option’ says housing minister – BBC News
“For some people it can be the best option for them to allow their home to be repossessed… even in cases [where lenders look at repossessions as a last resort] some families may not be able to keep up with mortgage repayments even if they’re re-negotiated and rescheduled,” he said.
The Unceremonious Fall from Entitlement – Irvine Housing Blog
Many cling to lifestyles of the Great Housing Bubble unable to accept reality of living within the confines of their wage income. Today we examine the inevitable and ignominious fall from entitlement.
California Housing Losses By County and City – Patrick.net
Will markets call EU bluff on Greek rescue? – Telegraph, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Greek bail-out accord lacks substance and finance’s poker players may soon call its bluff.
Foreclosures’ collateral damage widespread – The Sacramento Bee
If you’re among the thousands of Sacramento-area homeowners who played it conservative during the housing boom, who didn’t refinance or flip to a bigger house, everyone else’s foreclosures reached out and smacked you anyway.
New Jersey governor declares fiscal emergency – Reuters
“These are among the hardest decisions any governor could be called upon to make,” said the Republican, according to a copy of his speech to legislators in a special session.
The deficit in the current budget, which ends on June 30, is $2.2 billion, while the gap in the following budget has spiked to $11 billion from a forecast of $8 billion in November, Christie said in his first major policy address to state lawmakers.
Misguided Economists Say Unemployment Rate Has Peaked – Mish
Economists are giddy once again, following news that weekly unemployment claims dropped to 440,000.
Slumburbia – The New York Times
Nobody is home in the cities of the future.
In a decade, they saw real property defy reality in real time in these insta-neighborhoods that sprouted in what had been some of the world’s most productive farmland.
In places like Lathrop, Manteca and Tracy, population nearly doubled in 10 years, and home prices tripled. After inhaling all this real estate helium, some developers and their apologists in urban planning circles hailed the boom as the new America at the far exurban fringe. Every citizen a homeowner! Half-acre lots for all! No credit, no problem!
Others saw it as the residential embodiment of the Edward Abbey line that “growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.”
