U.S. Housing Crash
Yale University economist Robert Shiller, an influential economist who predicted the current home sale slump, is predicting things will get worse — much worse — before they get better. Shiller said:
There’s a good chance housing prices will fall further than the 30 percent drop in the historic depression of the 1930s. Home prices nationwide already have dropped 15 percent since their peak in 2006. I think there is a scenario that they could be down substantially more…
The Great Depression was sparked by the collapse of the stock market; what will call the depression sparked by the collapse of the housing market? Sometimes people have to move — in the Midwestern States where the crisis is at its worst, people are moving away because they can no longer find work where they live now. If you can not sell your house when you move, a realtor will suggest a ’short sale’ or the bank will take it and sell it for you (foreclosure), either way the home will sell for less than it is worth.
This is how the rich get richer while the poor suffer. It is a great time to be buying up houses if you have the resources available to finance them. People have to live somewhere, so those whose homes have been foreclosed-on will be renting houses — oftentimes sliding from middle to lower class in the process. The landlord need not worry, the law will ensure he can evict anyone who can not keep up payments, regardless of their reasons.