http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/business/economy/14dip.html?_r=1&hp
The housing market has been in continuous decline for several years now, and of all the factors of our economy that were affected by the recession, it has the greatest uncertainty in it's recovery. Jobs may remain high but it appears that it will recover within several years at the most. Housing however has defied analysts predictions time and time again for the past year or so. Obviously housing is effected by the high unemployment rate and will not recover until the economy gains more jobs, but I believe that the cause of the housing crash will prove to be a big issue in it's recovery.
The united states is one of the only countries in the world that actually subsidizes home loans. We do it because of a philosophy that believes humans are going to act more responsibly if they feel a burden of responsibility and that burden arises as a result of a greater accumulation of wealth/property. This has helped make the U.S. a buyers market as opposed to a renters one, even though the majority of our population has been living in urban areas since I believe the 1930s or so and our current urban population is 82%
The Obama administration has made attempts at propping up the industry but will little sucess. At this point what can we do? Do we allow things to continue as they are and hope for the best as jobs slowly return? Or do we intervene in the market further with more sweeping reforms?
Personally I have no clue what would be best.
