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A Downturn In The Housing Market

from The Storm Before The Calm by Active Minds

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about

If there’s any single area in which are economic delusion has been both most pronounced and most destructive it’s in housing. The economic boom which began in the 80’s and continued for the next two decades was largely built on a foundation of spiraling house prices.
On paper, the wealth of many people seemed to be growing almost exponentially – all very good news, provided you don’t actually need somewhere to live… As the price of housing continued to grow out of the reach of working people, the banks then decided to keep increasing the amounts they were willing to lend in relation to people’s income. This just kept the housing price bubble expanding, until it was bound to burst.
People’s ability to repay loans hadn’t really increased, so why were they continually being extended further credit? It was a form of institutionalised madness, which resulted in the cost of even basic housing often rising out of the reach of ordinary people. It wasn’t just those who wished to buy their homes – rents also rapidly became unaffordable because they obviously depended on the prices in the general house-buying market.
The housing market has had some knocks since 2008, and people do struggle when that happens. Already mortgaged up to the limit of an unrealistic and unsustainably high price on their properties, when prices come crashing down they can found themselves struggling to hold on to their homes. But for housing to become affordable then, realistically, prices still need to fall quite dramatically. The effects of this for struggling families need to be addressed without perpetuating the problem. We shouldn’t be looking to return the housing market to where it had been ten years ago, because that would be to try to keep propping up an unsustainable economic system which keeps everyone working long hours just to keep a roof over their heads.
Yet, this seems to be the preferred model of many of those in charge. Whilst they pay lip-service to “learning from past mistakes”, the increase in house prices is still considered to be a major indicator of the health of an economy – even if those prices are out of the reach of the people who need to live in them. The inability of an economy to provide people’s basic needs at a price they can afford is not a sign of its health but of its sickness.

lyrics

“The housing market’s slowing down,” the worried analysts tell us. They warn of troubled times ahead - but we’re not all property sellers. Can’t they see that ordinary people can’t afford a place to live? A necessity priced as a luxury - no surprise that it’s got to give. If the property speculators find their empires collapse in a heap - if their loss helps those who are less well-off, then don’t expect me to lose sleep.

credits

from The Storm Before The Calm, released May 3, 2016

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Active Minds Scarborough, UK

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