Inside story welcome to inside story. Im Sheila Macvicar, sitting in for ray suarez. Tonight on the programme chasing the dream of Home Ownership. Nearly six years after the great recession, Many American families are still struggling to regain lost ground. One indicators of the slow recovery, the percentage of people that own homes is at a nearly 5 decade low. Stopped in tracks by tough mortgage standard, like banks requiring downpayments, and low wage growth outpaced by surging home payers, would be home buyerers are stuck between the laws of supply and demant. Some are turning to a rental markets that saw prices shoot upwards. Al jazeera correspondent mary snow has more. Show them how it works. By their own account, michael and his wife tatiana are living the american dream. They have three children and own a Small Film Company in brooklyn new york. Despite their success they face hurdles completing their american dream. They dont own a home. The good places we are coming across, someone comes in and scoops it up the next day and put down a Million Dollars cash. So we do well, but that is something very difficult to compete with. They are among the growing ranks of americans renting homes. In households across the country, being able to afford a home is a key struggle. The rise in renters is making a demand for all properties intense. Home ownership is at its lowest level since 1967, according to the sensis bureau. Some dont expect the trend to see soon. Renters have been home owners, young people starting up the households are disproportionately becoming renters, not home owners. This is a shift. Reporter since the recession, its tougher to get a mortgage, banks tightened lending and the lack of credit has held back wouldbe home buyers, in the last nine years, there has been a gain much 8 million households renting and a drop of 1. 4 million who own. All of this having a ripple gect on the rental market. Cities like new york are examples of sky rocketing rent in recent years. Across the country the increase in rent outpaces wage growth, putting a squeeze on wouldbe home buyers. Many young people do not have savings, they are deep in debt. As rents increase and wages do not keep up, its more difficult to save, and, deliver, difficult to save for Home Ownership, required. Those that track real estate say in most parts of the country its more affordable to buy a home than to rent one. Some buyers, afraid of another recession are reluctant to bip. Theyve been burnt by Home Ownership or have seen others burnt by Home Ownership. They are cautious about jumping into Home Ownership and willing to pay a higher price for rent, if it helps them and gives them more flexibility. While the american dral may lose its lustre for some, michael and tatiana see owning a home as an important goal. For the children too . Yes. Wed like to have something that is ours that. Generational. The key question for many is when will wages grow enough to turn the thought of owning a home into a reality. Joining us now from cambridge massachusetts is Christopher Herb earnt, the managing director of the joint center for dr herbert and his team housing. We should begin by saying while experience of the brooklyn couple in one of the hottest markets in the country, when you look across the country, what do you see, what do you see new . Well, i think your introduction touched upon it. Its not just one story, its several. Brooklyn is a case where we see demand for housing outstripping the supply. Young people are moving there, staying there longer than they did in previous demonstrating. Other parts of the country, they see the issue around wages, how we see the wage growth stagnating and falling. We are getting to the point where full employment is reached, putting pressure on wages, that will help to turn the side. Its a combination of demographic trends, working through the fall out from the recession and lessons learnt from the housing bust and the fact that people are now praching this with more wide boom. Has the notion of owning a home, the symbolic value of owning a home changed. Before my parents generation, it was about security and stability, is that what people are looking for now when they purchase their home, are are they looking to home purchase as an southwest are investment. 90s. I dont think has been a fundamental shift in how people view Home Ownership. Its interesting that a couple in brooklyn talked about the fact that its a place for children and family, if you look at survey about peoples attitude towards Home Ownership. You find the main reasons people look to buy a home is to have a place to call their home, to have Home Ownership and put down roots. In many reports theres a period when housing prices were going up grisly. People were lured into buying a home. You saw your friends buy a house, you felt you had to get in on that. There was a period of time when we saw people react more to financial incentives than they were to financial incentives, be. We are seeing people that longterm interest in Home Ownership is there. Again, for economic reasons, some are not getting there as quickly as they would like. In other cases the millennial generation is taking longer to get married and have children, getting to the phase of life when Home Ownership makes sense, its a combination of longer nature. Talking about the millennial generation, thats a generation buying the new homes, starter homes, less expensive homes, its a generation saddled with student debt in some cases, and saddled with an economy where entry level jobs disappear in a lot of cases. How much of an impact does it have on the entire market. During the height of the recession. If you look at what happened do unemployment rates for people out of college, he took a large hit. I think we have seen that age demographic. Recover, they are unemployed. Turns out that that piece of the of puzzle is improving. Student debt, the share of young households and those carrying student debt are carrying more than they did in the past. If we look at people in a position where they may be ready to buy a home. If they are managing large amounts of debt. It lp affect how much of a mortgage they can qualify for and how much of an ability they have. Student debt issue is one that is a new factor in the market that wasnt there 10 years ago for sure. We talk about the changing face of america, changing demographics. Are those communities as engaged in the notion of Home Ownership as earlier generations of americans where. Absolutely, if you look at the attitudes towards Home Ownership, people ask do you intend or would you like to own a home. Theres little difference by race. Nine out of 10 whether you are white, black, hispanic say that theyd like to own a home. Among immigrants, the desire to own a home is stronger. It reflects a desire to put down roots in america. Among hispanics in particular. Youll see that that interest in owning a home is strong. Well have to leave it there. Manager director of the joint center for housing studies at harvard. Thank you for joining us. Owns a home has been the goal for generations from americans. With a mobile workforce earning less than parents and grandparents, that goal may be changing. Chasing a dream. Oscar winner alex gibneys edge of eighteen. An intimate look. Wait, is that a camera . At the real issues facing american teens. Whoa, code red. Dreaming big. I gotta make it happen and im gonna make it happen. Choices made. Im gonna lose anything left that i have of the mexican culture. Fighting for their future. It is imperative that i get into college. Its my last chance to get out of here. The incredible journey continues. Hunted to the brink of extinction. 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If i could turn to you, when you look at the market and you see the historically low rates of Home Ownership, are people pushed into the rejectal market, and are some pushed out. In many cities when you think of the san francis cos. Even though there are rorted low mortgage rates, you just bid against the next fally for the same house. Only one of you will get the house. Thats the situation we are in, when you see it people are moved to the suburbs. Where they drive an our or two, they become renters, its a difficulty. At some point you substitute the lack of wage or growth with trying to get more credit, where you are not putting as much down. I worry that the margins will be vulnerable. You dont have the same stability, we dont have a national market. If you are in buffalo, new york, it makes sense to be there. Its cheap. If you are in d. C. Or new york, it may make more sense to by. Be cognisant of local market. You were familiar with the d. C. Markets. Are the people you are seeing the people you would have a seen changed . I think the market and population has changed. I was looking at a study. One of the things said is families are likely to reject. That was not a trend 12 years ago. The stock is not there and affordability. This is kind of like a perfect storm. Those that saw the movie, perfect storm, multiple fronts collided, creating a storm. Thats what we have with affordable houseing. We have middle income jobs leaving the city. They are going to the suburbs. Or outside of the country. As a result, the middle income marks that is sustained. Its disappearing, its relocating. You have the lower income people that need percentage of subsidies. You have cities force the to generate revenue to do more. What is happening is they are letting Market Forces work. Which means that housing is going to higher and higher income people. It means in terms of an answer, having a continuum of services and programs to kind of meet people where they are. They are renters that need assistance, new firsttime home buyers, longtime home buyers. Im a fifth generation washing tonian. I grew up in b. C. , i came from a neighbourhood where there was 2person working families. All my friend, the only way to stay is if they inherit a mortgage free home. That is an indicator of how the Housing Market shifted in d. C. And other cities. If part of the answer here is the question of supply, the law of supply and demand, the basic laws of economics, why if there is command, why is there not more supply, why are builders, market. Lets separate the housing from the mortgage side. They are closely related. So the housing part of it is in many markets they are built. You go to phoenix, las vegas, lots of houses are put up. Its a relatively affordable market. You have to look at the markets which are difficult to build, again portland oregons, and the stereo typical markets. In what looks like to me, that has been up towards the crisis, is the regulatory ability to get the permit in, the ability to get it through. All the fees that you have to pay and pass on to owners. Its difficult. The density. Anyone thats been to the surrounding part of the area, you see the low rise, which should be denser. If you look at the place in america, its easy to build. The housing problem is a housing problem. Its a lack of supply. How do we get san rah looking like houston. Its a little difficult. Certainly its words remembering you can get an fa loan today. You dont need perfect credit. Most of the credit is subprime credit. It will cost you more than if you go to a commercial loan. Some of what you see is alliance costs. The amount of paperwork needed is so much more substantial. A lot of people have memories of getting burnt. To me, one of the things that changes, and part of the things that is positive. If i dont get in now, i cant get in. Much. See. And the other thing, with young people that, you know. Im reminded of my own family. There are a lot of Young Professionals coming into the Housing Market with student debt. Thats almost half of what the house would cost. I have a daughter with ph. D. Loans. How do you pay. Pay a mortgage, start a family and do those things. There are a lot of conditions contributing to renting becoming a safer not preferred option, its a safer option for many people in the country. Renting is buying a house is also a kind of piggy bank, as you pay off the mortgage you build up equity and savings, you hope its like for a lot of people, it should be like money in the bank. Necessarily. I dont think its attitude, i think its the numbers. If you look at the needs, the immediate easier need to be more selfent solvent than saving. I dont think its a value shift. Its an income shift. Until the millennials deal with the issues, the debt that many faced. The Housing Market mr not go far. What we saw in the mid 2000s, we almost doubled the families under 25. Think about that. I couldnt imagine, i was like 22, responsible enough to buy a house. So some of this delay has been the biggest declines in ownership those under 30, under 35. The smart thing to do is to go to grad school. Get a ph. D. Get the equity behind up. I didnt buy a home until i was 30. You put it in yourself. Thats a smart thing to do. Its a minority. Some of this, the postponement of having married, having first children. You often see the activities that my parents would have done in their 20s that my generation and others in the late 20s and 30s. Progression. Director of the coalition for non Profit Housing and mark. The director of collaboration studies. Thank you for the institute. The changing face, one study projects the next 15 years, 77 of new home owners will be nonwhite. When we return, a closer look at the demographic shift. Chasing the lezley mcspadden. One year after the death of her son michael brown. So what do you think when i mention the name Darren Wilson . What comes to mind . The devil that comes to mind. Evil. An Al Jazeera America welcome back to inside story. Im Sheila Macvicar in for ray suarez. According to the quarterly data released. Home ownership among all age groups is falling. The rates of Home Ownership among hispanics and blacks increased. Is that a blip on the screen or the beginnings of a longer trend line. Chief economist for trulia. Markets trends as they unfold, you are seeing people buy and Sell Properties across the country. Are you seeing are you concerned that the counter decline that has been recorded by the u. S. Sensis bureau, the harvard study and others will continue. Do you thick think that is the way well see continued declines think . As you mentioned, Home Ownership rate is at the lowest since 1967. The Home Ownership rate peaked in 2004 and has been on a decline since. Im not necessarily concerned in this declining Home Ownership rate. Its largely driven by demo graphic changes anticipated for a while, and partially are due to some different choices that the Younger Generation today are making in comparison to the previous generations. We were talking about that. The issues of dealing with student debt, delayed marriage and establishment of a family. Do you think that millen nial generation still has commitment. We have done a number of surveys, released in in 2014 showed that 74 of americans said their Home Ownership is part of a dream. 78 Home Ownership is part of the dream. Theres an expectation as we afford it, theyll move towards Home Ownership. How is your city, San Francisco, looking more like houston, if the market was more flexible. What do you think about that analogy. We are seeing the tighter supply and steady growth. And wage growth and all those factors put a lot of pressure on home prices. Homes have been on the decline, the pressure on polices is strong. Are you seeing interest on the part of those that would create supply, developers, builders, getting into the market, increasing supply, capitalizing on that demonstrate . Yes, certainly. I think we are seeing as your guest mentioned we are seeing increases in supply in some areas of the country, largely driven by Regulatory Environment, and so what the problem is in california, and San Francisco in particular is just thaf we have a strict Regulatory Environment making it difficult for builders that want to come in, let alone build homes in the area. If there were to be changes in the Regulatory Environment, what things do you think a market like San Francisco needs to see in. Well its complicated issue. Its not just San Francisco. From california in general, an issue we have not talked enough about, and its contributing to the lack of supply, is the se car, the environmental act that is really delaying the process of building homes and Home Builders to build. Thats on on the other issue there was a zoning issue, a low density zenning across the state, San Francisco particularly, so, you know, we are not taking advantage of a short supply of land that we have here, so that thats a big contributor to a lack of supply. And when you look. Obviously for people who are not able to buy, they turn to renting. And at the same time we see p across the country. People seem to be squeezed on both sides. What do you hear from people in the market looking for a place to live . Same with rentals. Its the same situation as with homes for sale. Its areas with a lot of population growth and strong jobs market. You see the squeeze on the rental side. The buildup of rental inventory has been on an upward trend for a while. I dont think that we are having enough inventory, even rentals, where the strongest population and job growth are. Half the chief economists trulia thank you. Thatll do it for tonights inside story. Im Sheila Macvicar in for ray suarez. Thank you for joining announcer this is al jazeera. Hello, welcome to the newshour. Im here in doha. Here is what is coming up over the next 60 minutes. The cost of war. The u. N. Says 5,000 afghan civilians have been killed or injured in conflict this year alone protests in aman heads a possible closure of schools that could affect half a million refugee children abuse of