Housing and Illegals

Reuters has a story posted about the cost of buying a home.

A record 37.3 million households, or one in three, were paying a "moderate cost burden" of 30 percent of their income toward housing in 2005

Umm, I guess that's no surprise. Back in the mid-80's I was paying about 33% in interest, principal, and escrow. Your point is?

The recent crisis in the subprime mortgage market means borrowers with damaged credit will be unable to buy a home.

Christ! That's what caused the "recent crisis!" Banks are loaning money to people who can't afford to make the payments. Both sides are gambling that they'll be able to make the payments when they balloon.

Well, actually both sides aren't gambling. After all, if you have no credit to begin with, you have nothing to lose. The banks figure, in turn, to either make a killing on the payments, or to get the government to bail them out. They win either way. The loser, my friend, is the taxpayer.

And who, exactly, is buying all of these houses?

"After contributing more than a third of net household growth between 1995 and 2005, new immigrants will likely account for at least that large a share between 2005 and 2015.

Great! The recent boom in the housing industry was caused by the need to build places for illegal immigrants to live. That explains a lot.