While the postrecession (2008-2010) circumstances of high unemployment, the need for job mobility and, in some cases, wholly owned-homes becoming liabilities rather than assets, brought on a surge of metropolitan apartments and suburban and rural leases, it seems the blistering pace of universal homeowning had seen its best days.
The building of close to two million residential houses annually, which reached its peak in this century’s first decade, has dropped to hardly half that amount at best. It was hoped that all-time-low mortgage interest rates, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s anticipated 3% downpayments, would revive homeowning. This “love affair” dated back to the post-World War II timeframe, ending badly in 2007 as bankruptcies became commonplace while repossessed homesteads sold for a fraction of their original price.