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“It wasn’t until the recovery from the Long Depression of the 1880s and the Great Panic of 1893 that the concept of owning one’s residence became a widespread notion in the USA”

Actually, I think when this country was founded the idea of private property ownership was the idea. I don’t recall either that the pilgrims rented.

My quote: “It wasn’t until the recovery from the Long Depression of the 1880s and the Great Panic of 1893 that the concept of owning one’s residence became a widespread notion in the USA” Your response: Actually, I think when this country was founded the idea of private property ownership was the idea. I don’t recall either that the pilgrims rented. -------------------- My response: The great urbanization of the US population were seeded in policies developed in the 1880s, not until the 1920's did it really transform the country. So while the frontier was readily homesteaded, the mass of the urban population households of the US urban areas were never majority home owners. realestate.wharton.upenn.edu/research/papers/full/669.pdf‎ Little known fact, home ownership rates fell every year between 1890 and 1920. As of today, we have now surpassed the immigration rates of the 1880-1920 period, and urbanization is again increasing. And just as the economic activities and jobs shifted rapidly between rural and urban areas, we're seeing a shift from rural/exurban/outer suburbs to urban areas. On top of that, almost 100% of families with elderly family members between 1880 and 1920 in rural America were multigenerational households, the creation of "nuclear family" households is a historical anomaly that might have run it's course in North America. www.hist.umn.edu/~ruggles/multigenerational.pdf‎ So I'll stick with the idea that the US population is returning to historical norms, and the great expansion of single family households over the last 90 years was an event of a particular time and place, one that isn't going to be repeated any time soon.