美國的房屋價格增速來到 7 年來最快，4 月時中古屋銷售來到逾 3 年高點，房市在幾年來的低迷後終於反轉了，對吧？
並不一定，《衛報》美國財經編輯 Heidi Moore 表示。人們所謂的房市復甦「很可疑」，她在最近的專欄寫到：「看來是房市復甦，其實是個陷阱。」
Moore指 出，銀行及投資人推動著房市復甦，不是真實的買家。銀行現在因為查封許多房屋，而擁有市面上大部分的房子，因此能夠控制供給而操控價格提升，她說。
Moore 還說，衰退過後，人們的確對個人財務更加聰明，但這並不會讓他們富有。實質薪資經過通膨調整後，於過去三年下滑。
「並不是人們在買房子，而是那些希望房市反轉的投資人、是那些有閒錢的投資人。現在房市就像他們的遊樂場。」她說。
Home prices have risen at the fastest rate in seven years. Sales of previously owned homes in April hit their highest level in more than three years. The housing market has finally turned the corner, right?
Not necessarily says Heidi Moore, U.S. finance and economics editor at the Guardian. The so-called housing recovery may be “dubious,” she writes in a recent column: “What looks like a housing recovery to the rest of us, but is, in fact, something of a trap.”
Moore says banks and investors are propping up the recovery, not real buyers. Banks now own a large percentage of available homes for sale because of foreclosures and are controlling the supply to artificially increase prices, she argues.
But “doesn’t that make the rise in the volume of home sales all the more impressive?” Gross asks. Banks are less reluctant to approve mortgage requests unless borrowers have high credit scores and cash for a down payment. Tighter lending requirements have also forced Americans to responsibly pay down debt. Now, more individuals are “in position to go out and buy these houses at higher prices, at higher rates, with more money down,” Gross notes. “To me that is a positive.”
Yes, more Americans have become smarter about their finances, but that doesn’t make them richer, Moore points out. Real wages adjusted for inflation have been falling for the last three years.
“It’s not people buying these houses,” she says. It’s investors, people who want to flip it. It’s the people who have ready cash. Right now it’s a big boys game in housing.”
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