Can Millennials Turn around the Housing Bust?
Published December 04, 2008 @ 08:36AM PT
Can Millennials Turn around the Housing Bust? By Morley Winograd and Michael Hais, featured on Newgeography.com:
To give Millennials the same opportunity to rescue America, the new Obama administration should give the emerging generation the same attention in its policy initiatives that it expended getting their votes. Certainly the opportunity is there, particularly in rescuing the now devastated housing market.
One unintended collateral benefit of the rapid drop in housing prices across the nation is to put many suburban homes within reach of first time home buyers, something that has not occurred for at least a decade. Even in pricey California, for example, the ratio between income and cost of housing has begun to drop dramatically, notes a recent paper by Chapman University graduate students Gil Yabes and Jason Goforth, with the ratio between income and mortgages dropping by one half or more in Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties, close to pre-bubble levels.
That’s a big opportunity, one that President-elect Obama’s “Home Ownership Initiative” should seize on. The Millennials could well be the demographic that could buy these more affordable homes and staunch the rise of foreclosures threatening the U.S. economy.
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Comments (3)
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Author
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Alex is a freelance journalist, activist, and online community management consultant based in Boston and Portland, Maine. He currently serves as executive editor of MakeSomethingHappen.net, where he writes about online organizing and the power of collective action.
Alex, this is an interesting question and while in theory, it appears to be right, I don't think Millennials share the dream of home ownership or have the means to buy even if they did. If they decide to buy, they will be looking for something quite different than the homes they grew up in - smaller, greener, open spaces, closer to urban centers. Right now, most are struggling to make ends meet, and relying on parents to bridge the gap. http://millennialmarketing.blogspot.com/2008/11/gen-y-end-of-home-ownership-dream.html
Posted by Carol Phillips on 12/04/2008 @ 07:52PM PT
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I am getting the impression that you are what can only be called a generational partisan. Why the favored treatment for us young folks?
Posted by Alex Herder on 12/09/2008 @ 07:00AM PT
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Haha. This is fair, Alex (and Carol - I'll be responding shortly). I'm not so much a partisan as I am someone interested in looking at the positive treands/potential/capabilities provided by a tightly-networked generation (and, of course, as previously mentioned: those who are Millennials in spirit and action). There are documentaries like Frontline's Growing Up Online which take a view of the negative elements of Internet exposure, and there is this image of the generation being painted by corporate advertisers - my intention is to look at what we're capable of and to advocate for that.
Where does this impulse come from? There's so much talk about the generation's sense of entitlement and exceptionalism that comes from our parents' endless coddling, etc. That's not at all where it comes from for me. I remember growing up while Generation X was being eldlessly reported on and I though, well, fuck, I hope I am not a part of this generation, because it seems horrible. And in retrospect, that's largely because the generation was in a position where the news-media had a tighter grip on representing them than they could for themselves. Frustrated by that, I find it important to speak up.
How, though, does this post suggest my generational partisanship? Further, I am not against Gen-X or the Boomers, or whatever. They are free to write on their own behalf, and they do. I'm just speaking about what I'm seeing re: our potential.
I should also note that I went on this tour because there was a lot of negative AND positive commentary being written about the potential for this generation, and I wasn't buying either one until I could meet more people and make a better assessment for myself. Is my perception biased by idealism? In part, sure.
Posted by Alex Steed on 12/09/2008 @ 07:15AM PT
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