Homeownership and the American Dream

摘要

Policymakers have traditionally viewed an expansion of homeownership as an important public policy goal, and they implemented policies during the 1990s and early 2000s to encourage homeownership. To the extent that anyone believed that all households should be homeowners, the financial crisis provided a strong counterexample illustrating the risks associated with homeownership when millions lost their homes to foreclosure. However, we have argued that homeownership remains very beneficial for most families, offering both financial gains and a chance to build wealth, especially for those who expect to own their homes for a long enough period of time to overcome transaction costs and near-term cyclical volatility. Today, it can be more difficult for households to become homeowners, reflecting difficulties in obtaining a mortgage, incomes that have not kept pace with the increases in home prices, as well as a lack of entry-level inventory in most housing markets. The restricted inventory of housing—due in large part to zoning restrictions, building codes and other issues—adds significandy to the costs of building a home. The public policy challenge in the United States should be to break down barriers that limit those who would benefit from homeownership from accessing it, while not pushing people to become homeowners for whom it doesn't make sense or providing subsidies where not appropriate.