We read at brookings.edu, that “For households in the three middle-income quintiles, home equity is the largest single financial asset, representing between 50% and 70% of net wealth.” Further, we read at pewtrusts.org, that in 2021, “Investors bought 24% of all single-family houses sold nationwide.” What this basically signifies is that in America, in which home ownership for the middle class is considered to be the single most important asset to own and thereby to pass on as an inheritance to their progeny or else to utilize as equity as people age, is that there is clearly a changing of the guard, in which more and more investors, whether they be outside individuals, or Limited Liability Corporations, or consortiums of such are thereby making major purchases of single family homes and apartment complexes in America. In fact, we find that individual home ownership peaked in 2004 at 69.2% according to ipropertymanagement.com, and is of 2021, now at 65.5%.
When it comes to home ownership the trend that we are seeing should be something that we need to pay attention to, and in an era, in which, Americans in their retirement age, pretty much have to hope that their own individually financed retirement plans such as their 401Ks, as well as the monies so designated for them by Social Security will keep them whole; we find that in their retirement years, this well could be problematic for them, depending upon whether or not they own their own home. The important thing to know, is that for a significant swath of Americans so reaching retirement, in many of those cases, they have successfully paid off their 30-year mortgage, thereby signifying that they truly own the home that they reside in, and further to the point, no longer are making monthly mortgage payments, which from a budgetary perspective, is of a very high importance, for the payment of mortgages, is often one of the biggest, if not the biggest expense, that most people have to make on a monthly basis, for those that are home owners.
On the other hand, there are all those other middle class folks, that haven’t come close to paying off their mortgage; yet, find that their retirement is just around the corner for them; or even more problematic, don’t own a home, thereby signifying for these folks, that the largest expense that they have to contend with, which is their mortgage, or else their rental payment, is something that is not going to go away, anytime soon, if ever. These people, then, that are in the middle class, but lacking in home equity or are just plain renters, are in more cases than not, going to find that their retirement years are going to be a constant struggle for them, because their bills will continue to have a mortgage payment or a rental payment, that is due, rain or shine, month in and month out.
In summary, it would behoove this nation to do more to benefit those individuals that desire to own their own home; and do a lot less to benefit those that want to speculate in home ownership; under the basic understanding that home ownership is for those of the middle class, their main material asset, and thereby of extreme importance for them to have, or else, it could be said, that though these middle class people have lived and died in America, that more and more of them, never were able to successfully secure a foothold into the American dream.