Homeownership and the American Dream. More Nostalgia Than Reality?

Homeownership in the United States has been long been considered "a key component of the American Dream - a symbol of both financial success and independence," as a J.P. Morgan Wealth Management strategist noted in December 2023.

The prior year, a study commissioned by Bankrate.com indicated that 74% of U.S. adults ranked homeownership higher than the ability to retire, having a successful career, owning a vehicle, having children, or graduating college. Yet, as high house prices and mortgage rates continue to outpace inflation, the cost of buying a home is increasingly higher than renting.

According to an Economist calculation in November 2023, the cost of renting a two-bedroom property for 89% of Americans is now cheaper than if they were to buy it.

And this trend is expected to continue as housing affordability for first-time homebuyers in the U.S. struggles to overcome last year's record lows. Indeed, the 2024 Rental Affordability Report released by ATTOM last month reported that "median three-bedroom rents in the U.S. are more affordable than owning a similarly-sized home in nearly 90 percent of local markets around the nation."As the prospect of owning their own homes becomes an ever more distant reality for a growing number of Americans; and renting becomes less of a second-best and more of a social norm, homeownership as the height of the American Dream realization barometer seems more nostalgic than reality.

A longing for those days of yore. For the olden times when buying one's home was staking a claim in this land, in one's community. Back when a family's Victory Garden could be the thing that turned the tide in the war against global fascism.

The Death of the American Dream

The roots of this idealization of homeownership in the context of the American Dream have sprung from the core American values of individualism, independence, and privacy-the idea that one's home is one's "castle," a fortress to defend one's life, liberty, and property. It hearkens back to the early Anglo-American jurisprudence on which the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution was written to protect the "right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures."

There are also some parallels here to medieval English common law on which U.S. Castle Doctrine is based, which gives a person the legal right to defend their figurative castle. Over time such doctrine has coalesced with American gun culture, and along with it, a sense of "I'll give you my castle keys when you pry them from my cold, dead hands" has emerged.

It's as American as apple pie, right? Perhaps. In a democracy such as this one though, there are no sovereigns ruling over us from their castles here or abroad. There's not been a king of this land since 1776 when the U.S. declared its independence. This people has an aversion to such subjugation, incidentally, and it would behoove any would-be kings to remember the fate of the last one, Britain's King George III. The "Mad King" lost the war, the Thirteen Colonies, and his mind not long after. Regardless, if the authorities find probable cause to batter down your castle's gates, they are absolutely going to do that. Yes, your Majesty. Those police-issued size twelves will kick those gates off their hinges faster than you can hammer out a very angry Tweet to your imaginary subjects. So there you have it. Castles and kings are as un-American as trying to overturn a presidential election. 

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