The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Housing Market Rip-off

Mar 4, 2013

As high as 90% of foreclosed properties are held off the market nationwide, according to the AOL Real Estate blog. Banks and other real-estate agencies, such as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, own these foreclosed homes, but they are only selling 10% of them.

The banks are waiting for a surge in home prices to reap huge profits when they dump the inventory back into the market. At the same time, some real estate companies with big pockets are buying rental property, including single family rental homes in large numbers, and betting on the possibility that the property prices will go sky high again or rents will increase.

All these real estate schemes are forcing home prices and rents to go up. And media celebrates this manufactured hike as a housing market “recovery.”

We need homes. But, the capitalist economy is not organized to respond to the basic needs of workers. Capitalists’ sole goal is to make more money from workers by any means possible. This scheming may lead to exorbitant prices, another bubble and collapse. But, they don’t care. These banks and companies are again setting us up for another round of rip-offs and bail-outs.