Fannie and Freddie Blowing Up Another Bubble

The usual suspects are in the process of inflating an eerily familiar bubble.
It’s another housing bubble, but this time centered on rental property.
This is just one of many bubbles floating out there across the economic landscape. We have reported extensively on the stock market bubble, the student loan bubble, the debt bubble, and the auto bubble. We even told you about a shoe bubble. The air in these balloons all blows in from the same place – government and central bank policy. Artificially low interest rates, stimulus spending, and government policy combine to inflate asset bubbles. At their core, they are nothing but unnatural economic distortions.
And of course, at some point, they pop.
The rental bubble is particularly disturbing because it bears so much similarity to the housing crisis that crashed the economy in 2008. It even features some of the same lead characters – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
According to data compiled by Wolf Street, the apartment building boom in the US will set a record in 2017. Analysts estimate 346,000 new rental apartments in buildings with 50+ will hit the market this year. This follows record-setting year in 2016. And a record-setting year in 2015.

This post was published at Schiffgold on AUGUST 7, 2017.