Housing Starts and Logic

NPR's Morning Edition program today ran a short segment by their Planet Money team, Zoe Chace and Robert Smith, titled "Housing Starts Have Been Singing The Blues."  The short of the long of it was the somehow irreconcilable facts that, despite the long engrained love for the home steeped into American culture, and despite the improving economy (?!) housing starts are still down relative to the bubble's per-burst era of 2008. Ah, if only they ever bothered to employ reason!

Even if we turn a blind eye to the fictitious claim of an improving economy--since, how can it be improving when in fact more people are dropping out of the search for jobs (click here for a less complicated analysis)--there is an equally large oversight being perpetrated by these folks. Namely, it is a widely known fact that the Western youth has been on a trend of delaying marriage. Since there are reports of this trend dating back to 2007, it is clear that the trend preceded the Great Recession, however, the novelty introduced by the new economic conditions seems to have discouraged youngsters from opting to purchase a home to live in by themselves.

Born and raised in the Mediterranean, I was raised with the notion of living practically. Clearly my North American cohorts are catching up to this reasoning: a house is not a home unless you have someone to share it with! It should, therefore, come as no surprise that the youth of today, which as a result of a number of circumstances has embarked on a trend of delaying the start of a family, also chooses to correct their spending/investment habits, and delay the purchase of their first house.