Remember the American Dream? You know, the one where you own your domicile (well, the bank really owns it, but you're slowly buying them out) and ride its appreciation to riches and general financial security? Yeah well that dream is dead. Yale economist and Dean of American Housing Data Robert Shiller did the math, and from 1890 to 1990, the rate of return on residential real estate was essentially zero. So now the smart money rents, as evidenced by new data on home ownership. [The Atlantic Cities Blog]
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