Um... so what does this have to do with the environment, ecology, energy or health? I think this is easily the most idiotic posting I've ever seen on here. Hard-to-get mortgages means you essentially wipe out the middle class and you are left with only the extremely poor "serfs" or the extremely wealthy land barons. This results in less construction, which means less jobs, more homelessness and unhealthier people. Communities becomes more transient, and you end up with more ghost towns. The assertions made here are unbelievably naive and ill-considered.

Instead of helpfully calling the post idiotic, I will point out that whether or not a reduction in home ownership is a good thing, this trend (if it exists) suggests that we need to improve standards for energy efficiency of rental properties.

Too many renters are stuck with low efficiency appliances, minimal insulation, etc., because it saves the landlord money.

Mandating better sound-proofing wouldn't hurt, either...

As Michelle points out, there ARE a number of ways efficiency and greenness play into the owning/renting/etc. issue. Owners have every incentive to make their homes use less energy, whereas for the owner of a rented-out property, energy costs are an externality paid by the renter.

I agree that apartments should have more stringent efficiency requirements. However, unless such apartments can command a higher rent, owners will be reluctant to do so. This could cause more illegal apartments, especially in suburbs, where it is already often more difficult to get permits to have legal apartments.

-it limits your ability to relocate for a great opportunity. Trying on cities — as Richard Florida suggests in his recent book — might be as important to one’s long term happiness as trying out jobs. Also, in this era of high gas prices, owning in an eastern suburb could limit one’s ability to accept a job in a western suburb. -it could prevent you from taking a lower paying position that might be particularly interesting or a wonderful learning opportunity. -it could prevent you from returning to school, such as for an MBA, or a trade certificate or another diploma. Without ownership, you could move to a cheaper home. -renting offers more cost certainty (in most cases). Costly repairs are the owner’s responsibility.

And I agree more needs to be done to bring up the efficiency of apartments and rental properties.

ok, a little off the point here.......

Those Sears kit homes are just beautiful! So well built and quaint and usually in great neighborhoods. That saying - "They don't build them like they used to", is so very true to modern homes being built now. They are so flimsy and stuccoed to infinity in areas where there shouldn't be stucco.

They great thing about those (kit) homes is even now, they are better insulated and designed than modern homes, but if you built one now it would probably cost more than building a 3,000 sq. ft. modern home. The detailing of these homes is just amazing and unparalleled with anything being made today (dare I say even architect digest homes?).

Jessica:

You can have the best of all worlds! No house is truly permanent - unless it's a cave blasted into the side of a mountain. You can buy an old farmhouse in the way of new development, pay to have it jacked up onto a flatbed semi, and then move it to your empty lot. It's a lot cheaper than you might think, even with all of the union utility workers you have to hire to disconnect overhead wires along the way. All of the period details arrive intact, including the lead paint, knob-and-tube wiring, and rodent droppings. I know, because I grew up in a gutted one and unwittingly bought a pristine one as an adult. I had no clue why it didn't fit into the neighborhood full of ranch houses until the neighbors recalled seeing it moved in the early sixties.

There is the 'Energy Star Mortgage' program to help make responsible home ownership more affordable.

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=bldrs_lenders_raters.energy_efficient_mortgage

Houses should have a 3rd party Total Cost of Ownership disclosure. Most of the crap built on spec was designed to be cheap to make. They don't care how much it costs to own it once they pawn it off on you.

The financing mess is the result of deliberate fraud at all levels. The buyers who all claimed they made $300K a year are just as guilty as the investment bankers who repackaged those junk mortgages to sell to pensions. Only 1.50% of US tax payers make over $250K/yr so it didn't take a genius to see that either everyone was either cheating on their taxes or lying on their mortgages.