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VOA慢速英语2011-US Housing Market Slow to Recover From Co

时间:2011-02-13 02:11:08

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CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Christopher Cruise.

FAITH LAPIDUS: And I'm Faith Lapidus. This week on our program, we look at the American housing market after the collapse1 that pulled the economy into a recession. We also talk to experts about their advice for people who still want to buy a home.

(MUSIC)

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: The Great Recession lasted a year and a half. It began in December of two thousand seven. At that time, almost seven in ten Americans owned a home. That was a record high, and it included about sixty percent of blacks and Hispanics. Policies designed to increase home ownership in America included special efforts to help poorer groups in society.

As rates of ownership rose, so did housing prices. They became inflated3 by too much lending, too much borrowing and risky4 new ways of financing sales. Banks no longer had to worry about the risk of a home mortgage loan not getting repaid. They could simply sell their loans to investors5.

Housing prices reached a high point in two thousand six. The crash that followed spread through the economy. It was a cause of the financial crisis that struck the world in two thousand eight.

A home for sale in Massachusetts

FAITH LAPIDUS: Next Monday the Census6 Bureau releases its latest report on the home ownership rate. Its last report in November showed that the rate had fallen to just under sixty-seven percent, from a high of sixty-nine percent.

RealtyTrac is a company that counts foreclosures, the legal term for bank repossessions. It says over three million Americans have lost their homes this way since two thousand six. And it estimates that three million more foreclosures are yet to come.

RealtyTrac predicts that twenty-eleven will have even more than the record one million foreclosures last year. But it says the number should start to fall next year.

Foreclosure rates have been high in states where prices rose quickly and almost anyone could get a loan. Rick Sharga is a senior vice2 president at RealtyTrac. He says foreclosure rates are now increasing even in places where home prices did not rise quickly and risky loans were not a problem. These include cities like Boise, Idaho, and Charleston, South Carolina.

The recession ended in June of two thousand nine. The problem now is the slow recovery from the loss of millions of jobs. In all, about four percent of American homeowners are in foreclosure -- about four times the normal rate.

(MUSIC)

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: To some people, a bad situation can also be a good opportunity. Home prices and mortgage interest rates are lower than they have been in many years.

Springtime is traditionally when many Americans begin looking for a home. Real estate agents hope this coming spring will be busier.

In some cities, home prices have increased, a sign of growing demand. Greg McBride is a home buying specialist and senior financial analyst7 with Bankrate.com. He says now may be a good time to buy a home.

GREG McBRIDE: "Especially in the hardest-hit housing markets, prices are down in some cases more than fifty percent, so you’re already getting a much better deal than anybody’s had. In some cases, for new houses, these things are selling at a fraction of what they were built for. Yeah, prices might fall a little bit further, but I think you have to look at how much the affordability8 has improved and not worry so much about trying to catch the bottom."

The number of new homes being built dropped in December

FAITH LAPIDUS: Just last week, the Commerce Department reported an unexpected drop in December in the number of housing starts by builders. But there was also an unexpectedly big increase in building permits approved for future construction.

That increase could be a sign of hope, although builders might have also had other reasons. Some may have been trying to get permits approved before building codes changed this month in California, Pennsylvania and New York.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: In some cities, home prices are still falling. The Standard and Poor’s/Case-Shiller Index measures home prices in twenty large American cities. By last October, prices were down nearly thirty percent from their peak in the middle of two thousand six.

And some experts believe prices will continue to fall, in part because lenders are now trying to sell millions of foreclosed properties. High unemployment is another reason prices may continue to fall.

In the past year, home prices fell in eighteen of the twenty largest cities. Many experts think the American housing market will not recover for at least three more years.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Peter Schiff heads Euro Pacific Capital, an investment company. He is among those who believe housing prices have still not reached their low point.

PETER SCHIFF: "There’s so many people that are waiting for real estate prices to recover, talking about 'Oh, the bottom is in, now real estate's gonna start to go back up.' I’m just trying to point out how crazy those assumptions are, because real estate prices are still too high.

"The government has done a lot to try to artificially prop9 up real estate prices and they’re still doing that. But ultimately prices are going to come down. In fact, they’re probably going to come down even more than otherwise would have been the case had the government simply let the market run its course."

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Over the years, government policies also helped many Americans become homeowners. Tax laws, for example, have made owning a home more profitable for many people than renting an apartment. Policies like these have helped raise rates of home ownership from about forty percent in the nineteen forties.

Traditionally, Americans have often had to wait years to save enough money for a down payment. But in recent years lenders often let people finance up to the full value of a home.

Owning a home is considered part of the American Dream. Many people see it as good for society. But Peter Schiff says it may be time for a different dream.

PETER SCHIFF: "A lot of young people are going to move back with their parents, a lot of elderly parents will move in with their grown children, a lot of people will have roommates that don’t have them today. Many Americans might rent out rooms in their houses, and so you’re going to have a lot less demand for houses."

FAITH LAPIDUS: Maybe, maybe not. But the fact is, many Americans still want to own a home. Only a small number of countries have a higher rate of home ownership. These include Mexico, India, Spain, Ireland, Australia and Britain.

In America, the traditional way to finance a home purchase is with a thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgage loan. Some people have a fifteen- or twenty-year loan, often with an adjustable10 interest rate instead of a rate that never changes. Once people own their house "free and clear," all they have to pay are property taxes and insurance.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: But Americans move a lot. Homeowners can repay their mortgage loans early by selling their home. But right now, some owners who want to sell are finding that difficult to do. In some cases, this is because they are "underwater." That means they owe more on their loan than their home is worth.

Rick Sharga from RealtyTrac says up to one-fourth of all homes that still have a mortgage loan balance are in this situation. The percentage is higher in some states, including California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida.

In other cases, owners cannot sell their house because the person who wants to buy it cannot get a loan. Lending requirements have changed for people trying to buy a home or refinance an existing loan.

Banks are looking more closely at income, debts and credit history. They want more proof that borrowers will have enough money to repay their loan.

FAITH LAPIDUS: In some areas of the country, sales of new homes are at their lowest level since the nineteen sixties. So what would Peter Schiff advise his family or friends if they asked him about buying a home right now?

PETER SCHIFF: "If you can put very little down and lock in low rates, depending on the property and how long you’re planning on staying there, and what the relative rents are for the same or similar properties where you are, for some people buying can make sense. But don’t look at it -- it’s not necessarily an investment, it’s just something that would make sense for you right now.

"I don’t think people should be buying real estate as an investment right now or investment properties, especially if they have to put down twenty or thirty percent. I think that there’s much better things to do with their down payment than buy a piece of property."

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Greg McBride from Bankrate.com agrees that buying a home might still make sense, as long as people do not expect short-term gains.

GREG McBRIDE: "Buying a house is a lot like getting married: You have to be in it for the long haul, and be prepared for the commitment -- in this case, the financial commitment that's involved with owning a house."

(MUSIC)

FAITH LAPIDUS: Our program was produced by Brianna Blake. I’m Faith Lapidus.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: And I’m Christopher Cruise. Tell us about the housing market where you are. Is owning a home considered an important part of the culture? You can share your comments at voaspecialenglish.com or on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. You can also find transcripts11, MP3s and podcasts of our programs. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 collapse aWvyE     
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷
参考例句:
  • The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
  • The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。
2 vice NU0zQ     
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的
参考例句:
  • He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
  • They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
3 inflated Mqwz2K     
adj.(价格)飞涨的;(通货)膨胀的;言过其实的;充了气的v.使充气(于轮胎、气球等)( inflate的过去式和过去分词 );(使)膨胀;(使)通货膨胀;物价上涨
参考例句:
  • He has an inflated sense of his own importance. 他自视过高。
  • They all seem to take an inflated view of their collective identity. 他们对自己的集体身份似乎都持有一种夸大的看法。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 risky IXVxe     
adj.有风险的,冒险的
参考例句:
  • It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险,但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
  • He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。
5 investors dffc64354445b947454450e472276b99     
n.投资者,出资者( investor的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
  • a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会
6 census arnz5     
n.(官方的)人口调查,人口普查
参考例句:
  • A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
  • The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。
7 analyst gw7zn     
n.分析家,化验员;心理分析学家
参考例句:
  • What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务?
  • The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。
8 affordability b765fd6126db9695d9d5b74d209e7527     
可购性
参考例句:
  • Performance-Based Logistics Affordability: Can We Afford Categorical Conversion to Performance-Based Acquisition? 基于性能的后期的可承受性:能否担负得起向基于性能的采办的无条件的转变?
  • There would be no crisis of affordability, as't for food or clothing. 就想食物与服装一样,因为供给没有危机。
9 prop qR2xi     
vt.支撑;n.支柱,支撑物;支持者,靠山
参考例句:
  • A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
  • The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。
10 adjustable vzOzkc     
adj.可调整的,可校准的
参考例句:
  • More expensive cameras have adjustable focusing.比较贵的照相机有可调焦距。
  • The chair has the virtue of being adjustable.这种椅子具有可调节的优点。
11 transcripts 525c0b10bb61e5ddfdd47d7faa92db26     
n.抄本( transcript的名词复数 );转写本;文字本;副本
参考例句:
  • Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样,都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
  • You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书,你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

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