More Americans spending at least half their pay on housing

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — The surging cost of rental housing has squeezed a rising proportion of U.S. families since the Great Recession struck in 2007.

For more than one in four renters, housing and utilities consume at least half their family income, according to an analysis of Census data by Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit that helps finance affordable housing. The number of such households has jumped 26 percent to 11.25 million since 2007, a sign that the 6½bd}-year-old recovery from the recession has given scant relief to much of the country.

The government defines housing costs in excess of 30 percent of income as burdensome.

"It means making really difficult trade-offs," said Angela Boyd, a vice president at Enterprise Community Partners. "There are daily financial dilemmas about making their rent or buying groceries."

FULL story at link.



This Friday, Feb. 27, 2015, photo shows a sign advertising a house for rent in Los Angeles. More than one-in-four renters must devote at least half of their family income to housing and utilities, according to a new analysis of Census data by Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit that helps finance affordable housing. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150501/us--unaffordable_rents-c6ffd6b9b1.html

[rocktivity]

1. Monthly housing costs should not exceed a week's gross pay

which works out to around twenty-three percent of your pretax income. I heard that on a consumer radio show when I was in the fifth grade...which was obviously quite a while ago...


rocktivity

[xocet]

2. Is the following partially the cause behind that effect?

Your New Landlord Works on Wall Street
Hedge funds are snatching up rental homes at an alarming rate
By David Dayen | February 12, 2013

Housing analysts have been giddy for the past year about the comeback of their industry, whose collapse led to the Great Recession. Sure, 2012 was actually the third-worst year for housing ever—but it still beat 2010 and 2011. New and existing home sales, housing starts, and prices jumped in 2012, and experts expect an even stronger recovery for 2013.

...

If you’ve signed a lease in the past year, there’s a good chance your landlord wears a tailored suit and works on Wall Street. One of the hottest trends in the financial sector is known as “REO-to-rental.” Over the past couple years, hedge funds, private equity firms and the biggest banks have raised massive amounts of capital to buy distressed or foreclosed single-family homes, often in bulk, at bargain prices. Their strategy is to convert them to rental units for a while before reselling them when prices appreciate. The Wall Street firms are scooping up properties in the hardest-hit areas, promising high returns for the rental revenue streams—up to 10 percent annually —and starting bidding wars that have driven up some prices well above national averages. It’s the next Wall Street gold rush, with all the warning signs of a renewed speculative bubble.

...

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112395/wall-street-hedge-funds-buy-rental-properties