US Housing Market Slow to Recover From Collapse
23 January 2011
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Christopher Cruise.
FAITH LAPIDUS: And I'm Faith Lapidus. This week on our program, we look at the American housing market after the collapse that pulled the economy into a recession. We also talk to experts about their advice for people who still want to buy a home.
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CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: The Great Recession lasted a year and a half. It began in December of two thousand seven. At that time, almost seven in ten Americans owned a home. That was a record high, and it included about sixty percent of blacks and Hispanics. Policies designed to increase home ownership in America included special efforts to help poorer groups in society.
As rates of ownership rose, so did housing prices. They became inflated by too much lending, too much borrowing and risky new ways of financing sales. Banks no longer had to worry about the risk of a home mortgage loan not getting repaid. They could simply sell their loans to investors.
Housing prices reached a high point in two thousand six. The crash that followed spread through the economy. It was a cause of the financial crisis that struck the world in two thousand eight.
FAITH LAPIDUS: Next Monday the Census Bureau releases its latest report on the home ownership rate. Its last report in November showed that the rate had fallen to just under sixty-seven percent, from a high of sixty-nine percent.
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