I think he is addressing those issues, precisely by pointing out the real way to increase home ownership is to get prices back to some realistic relationship with incomes.

In my own market, for example (in the Northeast), I'm renting a single family house. All told, a 30 fixed-rate mortage, PMI, homeowners insurance, and property taxes would be DOUBLE my monthly rent if I bought the very same house at current prices -- let alone 2006 prices. True, there's the tax deduction, but that's more than outweighed by all the deferred maintenance on the 120 year old house.

I've got an especially good deal, but it is typical for my city -- even now, owning here costs 75-100% more than renting in most cases, putting even condos out of reach of anyone earning less than 100k/year.

I absolutely agree with all the points about the insecurity of renting, but the only way to get people into ownership is to get prices back into line.

Posted at May 12, 2008 2:28 PM in response to Congress Pushes for Unaffordable Housing