Here is a compelling article that shows just how much damage was done in the 2008 crash. I know this article is true. When I first moved into my home in North Houston, 2007, I was surrounded by vacant lots. Now those lots have homes built on them, but the residents do not own them – they rent. The homes are owned by large corporations.
Here are a few quotations from the article,
But more than 12 million single-family homes are currently being rented in the United States. Those homes, valued at more than $2.3 trillion, make up 35 percent of all rental housing around the country. In the past, the great majority of single-family homes that were rented out were done so by their owners or small real-estate companies. But today, a large and growing share of single-family rental homes are owned and managed by large corporations, real-estate firms, and financial institutions. The percentage of home owners is at its lowest level since the 1960s.
This is yet another of the economy-shifting consequences of the financial crisis of 2008. The crisis took a huge bite out of housing prices, and rising unemployment put large numbers of homeowners underwater in their mortgages. A good many fell victim to foreclosures, and plummeting housing values meant that they often had to sell their homes for a fraction of their value.
The link to the article is given below. But as Dr. Zaius says, “Dont look for it Taylor, you may not like what you find”