Quote of the Day: Good Renters, Bad Homeowners

"Easy credit made bad homeowners out of good renters."

~Los Angeles manager of rental property, from an article in today's Mpls.-St. Paul Star Tribune

Fortunately maybe, the homeownership rate in the U.S., after rising by 5 percentage points (from 64% to 69%) between 1994 and 2004, has fallen over the last four years by the biggest amount (.80%) since the mid-1980s (see chart above). Hopefully, many of the bad homeowners of the last few years of easy credit and now rising foreclosures are becoming good renters again.