This is a rather short diary and a "non-political" one as well, but I am not really familiar with this subject and only armed with figures on housing and population on the Census website. This is more a question for folks in the know and for discussion purposes.....
I have been wondering for a while how we can keep building houses in this country and someone is always there to buy them. A huge percentage of our economy is based on building houses. Think about it, the average house costs $230,000 and if you build one, $230,000 bucks is added to our GDP just like that. Almost out of thin air.
The housing figures are staggering....
Near one million
That is the average number of new houses, that have been built every month for years, including 1.3 million in 2-2006 which was a "down month".
In 2002 we had 120 million houses in the U.S. Since the housing boom this number is now most likely over 150 million. I can't seem to find the data for 2006 or even 2003 for that matter, but the data for 2002 says we had about 2.2 people living in every house and 120 million total. After 4 years and 1 million houses a month, you get an additional 48 million and now under 2 people live in each house. Say you subtract 33% for replacing old ones and you get 32 million new houses in 4 years, yet our population only grows 2-3 million a year. This leaves 22 million extra houses that don't have a "new owner" and now under 2 people live in each house. Many I would guess go to owners that never had one before, but the number of people renting has changed very little in the last 4 years, so that can't be much. Most are "2nd and 3rd" homes for the elite and they just buy them as an investment. But to get your investment money back, someone must be ready to step up and buy it and live in it sometime in the future. Well I ask where are these people going to come from?
Will our policies bring more "boots on the ground"?
Many on the Right say we should halt abortions and wall up the border, this is a net-zero population gain. Many of the Dems want to keep abortion and make it easier to become a citizen, which is only a small gain from the current.
Where will they come from?
How much of our economy is based on housing?
Judging by the last 4 years it is a very large number, $230,000 X 1 million new ones a month would seem to be BM. (Big Money)
How can this last? What will these houses be worth when no one can buy anymore because they are locked down in a mortgage in one already? Will we always be able to borrow money and when is the breaking point? When will banks just not loan us the money anymore?
I just don't get it.