It may be hard to believe, but we’re nearing the 10-year anniversary of the Great Recession.
And as you know, much of carnage was due to the bursting of a real estate bubble — fueled by subprime loans.
In the wake of the crisis, lawmakers swiftly passed the Dodd-Frank Act — which placed tighter rules on lending and the trading of real estate securities.
But on the West Coast, another housing bubble has formed in one of America’s most vibrant cities.
A bubble that not even Dodd-Frank could save.
And as senior analyst Jonathan Rodriguez outlines below, there’s a way for early speculators to capitalize on the downside.
Ahead of the tape,
Louis Basenese
Chief Investment Strategist
Bay Area Breakdown
The Bay Area of California is home to some of America’s brightest minds and a number of the world’s most valuable tech companies.
This metropolis includes the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose and nine counties — a total population of nearly 8 million people.
Now, over the last 20 years, the tech-driven economic boom has dramatically improved the economic status of many people who live and work in the area.
But herein lies the problem…
Not everyone who lives in San Francisco is a high-paid tech-sector employee.
And the skyrocketing housing costs are pricing many folks — like teachers and service workers — right out of the city.
Data from the National Association of Realtors show that the median existing home price in the U.S. is $229,900.
In San Francisco, the median home price is $837,500, according to a study from mortgage research firm HSH.
That’s more than three times the national median. It’s also higher than the peak set for the Bay Area before the last housing crisis.
The study also showed that a prospective buyer of a house at the median price would need to earn $160,589.84 to afford it — using a 30-year fixed mortgage rate of 4.1%.
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