Donald Trump tweets:
Has Trump missed something? Wasn't the government craze to increase home ownership a significant factor in the massive housing bubble?American homeownership rate in Q2 2016 was 62.9% - lowest rate in 51yrs. WE will bring back the 'American Dream!' pic.twitter.com/yI4Q8FHRjp— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2016
James Altucher has made a compelling argument as to why owning a house doesn't make any sense.
The only advantage to owning a home, and this is what has created all the "real estate geniuses" out there, including Trump, is that real estate is a great inflation hedge.
You can load up on debt when buying a house and pay back the debt in devalued dollars later on. That is the only advantage.
But as we have seen, the timing has to be correct on this crazed manuever or the next recession will result in your losing your home.
If Trump understood anything about the economy, he would focus on preventing the Federal Reserve from manipulating the money supply and interest rates---which has in the past cost millions of people their homes.
Horrifically, however, he has stated that he is in favor of low interest rates, which, of course, is just setting up the eventual bust phase in the boom-bust cycle.
Trump's suggestion that he wants to increase homeownership and keep interest low shows he has learned nothing from the 2008 financial crisis. He really wants to bring that boom-bust cycle back again.
He is nothing but a two-bit central planner, spouting his plans with more flair but typical central planner insanity.
-RW
"You can load up on debt when buying a house and pay back the debt in devalued dollars later on. That is the only advantage."
ReplyDeleteAnd this advantage would be legislated away at some point anyhow by the bankers & politicians. They can always just change the rules whenever they want.
Depending,on where one lives, a monthly mortgage payment can be much lower than paying rent for a comparable amount of space (in some cases, almost half the monthly rent of an apartment).
ReplyDeletePeople with a high time preference, or a lot of children, might prefer to buy and have the extra money (or extra space) each month.
For all you know Trump could be talking about less regulation.
ReplyDelete