Dollars & Sense: 14 million homes are vacant

[marmar]

14 million homes are vacant
by Dollars and Sense


From USA Today:

Census numbers show:

* More than 14 million housing units are vacant. That number does not include an estimated 4.8 million seasonal or vacation homes, most of which are occupied part of the year. The combined vacancy rate of almost 15% is higher than during previous recessions: 11% in 1991 and 9.4% in 1984.

* About 3% of owned homes are vacant. In normal times, "maybe 1% should be vacant," Myers says.

* More than 9% of homes built since 2000 are vacant compared with about 2% for older homes.

* Homes priced at $500,000 or more are just as likely to be empty as homes that cost less than $100,000.

Banks are on a tear to evict people rather than renegotiate loans to market rates. As we wrote earlier, this has hit renters as well as homeowners.

The Obama plan barely addresses this problem by providing just $2 billion for buying up and renovating abandoned properties -- hardly enough to make the slightest dent in the growing glut of vacant properties.

The bank policy of forcing eviction instead of renegotiating the loans to market rates is insane. The glut of foreclosed properties is driving down the value of homes everywhere. Vacant properties quickly attract vandals and criminals, often leaving disaster zones in their wake. The banks are left with a property worth a fraction of what they could have gotten by renegotiating the loans. This is why some Democrats have been pushing to give bankruptcy judges the authority to "cram down" mortgages.

The impact has been devastating for communities. Owners who keep up on their mortgages have seen their home values fall even further, vacant properties are a blight on neighborhoods, and homelessness is rising. The banks seem determined to drive themselves into the ground and take the rest of the country with them.

--d.f.


http://www.dollarsandsense.org/blog/2009/04/14-million-homes-are-vacant.html

[undeterred]

1. If only we could put homeless people in the vacant homes.

But that's too simple.

[teenagebambam]

3. Come to my neighborhood

Homeless people ARE in the empty homes, no one has to "put them" there. In about three months they'll be able to move into mine.

[xchrom]

2. recommend

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. "More than 9% of homes built since 2000 are vacant compared with about 2% for older homes".

Interesting stat. 9% of newer built homes sitting empty, deteriorating. Marble countertops and stainless steel appliances unused. Sad.

[justaregularperson]

6. Many of them abandoned by investors as well as owners

The investor class is what drove up prices. Not single home buyers. They were up to their necks. That is a big contributer to the phenominon.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. So what is the real reason behind wanting so many Americans to be without homes, do you think?

The Government gives billions to the banks, gives pennies to the people,
the bankers would rather foreclose than work out a payment,
thus the system seems designed to deliberately keep Americans from home ownership .

Why do you suppose that is?

Hint: Stupidity is not the answer.

[justaregularperson]

7. Real estate prices skyrocket out of the grasp on many all over the world, not just here

Even in 2cd world countries people were priced out of the market and still are. It is a direct consequence of the investor class having the resources to buy out so much of the land and homes that they price the rest out.

[bbgrunt]

8. evil.

[ThomCat]

9. It would be wonderful if those homes could become part of

a unified market with Uncle Sam as the seller. Get them on the market, drive up the availability, and drive down the price of homes.

People will actually be able to afford homes if banks stop rationing them by keeping them off the markets. Housing shortages will disappear. It's impossible to find affordable housing in many areas. People with modest incomes will be able to invest in rental properties again, and the rents will be at reasonable levels.