11% of All U.S. Homes Are Vacant

How bad is the housing market? Bad and getting worse. As of now, 11% of all U.S. homes are empty. Can you imagine how desperate builders and real estate agents must be at this point?

So think about it. Eleven percent of the houses in America are empty. This as builders start to get more bullish, and renting apartments becomes ever more popular. Vacancies in the apartment sector have been falling steadily and dramatically, why? Because we're still recovering emotionally from the toll of the housing crash.

Younger Americans have seen what home ownership has done to their friends and families, and many want no part of it. Credit has become very nearly elitist. Home prices, whatever your particular data provider preference might be, are still falling.

This is not a recipe for a recovering economy.

Housing Prices Lowest in 15 Years

Economics is a fascinating and frustrating "science". Why? Because it all comes down to human perception. Things are worth what we collectively think they are worth. "Intrinsic value" has very little meaning for most things in the modern economy. We're seeing this in the housing market where people are holding off buying not because prices are too high, or mortgages are impossible to get, but because of a collective sense that things are getting worse.

One reason the market is hurting is that buyers and sellers are in a standoff over prices. Many sellers are reluctant to lower their prices. And buyers are hesitating because they think home prices haven't bottomed out.

"It really is a self-fulfilling prophecy," said Aaron Zapata, a real estate agent in Brea, Calif. "If all buyers perceive that home prices are coming down, then they will stop making offers -- and home prices will come down."

Of course, in the middle of the Great Recession, people are also loathe to take on a new, massive 30 year pile of debt. Still, we all know when house prices will turn around. When we collectively decide they should!