经济衰退催生美国新一代啃老族

    对冲基金和私募股权公司推动了美国住房市场的复苏，它们购入总量越来越少的止赎屋和因财务困难而降价出售的房屋后用于出租，这种情形一直延续到了最近。鉴于房租上涨，而住房自有率降至历史低点，这项业务看起来是一项获利颇丰的投资。

    但随着大投资者们购入房屋用于出租，值得一问的是，年轻家庭需要多长时间才能拥有自己的住房。

    如今，单户住宅的房租增速已落后于房价涨速。投资者将大量房屋用于出租，但作为租房市场的主力军，年轻人选择自立门户者少于过去。

    首次购房者大幅下降的现象在美国住房市场复苏的过程中备受关注，这些人通常都是二三十岁的年轻夫妇。失业导致很多人无力买房，也导致租房人数减少；很多人在朋友亲戚家暂住，或者与父母住在一起。尽管眼下美国住房市场的很多方面都呈现的趋势，但二三十岁的年轻人自立门户的复苏速度仍然落后于住房价格回升和止赎屋减少的速度。

    房地产网站Trulia的一项分析显示，18-34岁之间的年轻人与父母同住的比例已经从2007年经济衰退前的大约27.6%上升到了31%。它导致年轻人自立门户数大减，而且可能需要相当一段时间才能恢复至正常水平。

    直到2008年，美国每年新组建约110万户家庭，原因主要是由于人口增长。现在，这个数字已经显著下降；从2008年一季度至2011年一季度，每年仅组建45万户新家庭。即便在美国经济回暖的过程中，组建新家庭的状况也没有改观，2012年一季度至2013年一季度，美国仅仅新组建52.1万户家庭。

    Trulia经济学家杰德•科尔科表示，这样算来美国总共少增加了240万户家庭。这个数字超过了两年时间跨度内新组建家庭的数量。他很大程度上将此归咎于失业问题。虽然如今的年轻人就业人数已高于一年前，但18-34岁年轻人的就业比例较本轮经济衰退最严重时期的状况并没有太大的改观。2008年年中时的就业比例为71%，但到了2011年年中却下降到了65%的低点。此后，这个比例已经回升至66.8%。

    科尔科说，年轻人可能需要多年时间，才能积攒足够的储蓄获得属于自己的住房。的确，那些有工作的年轻人相比没有工作的同龄人更有可能从父母家里搬出来。但即便如此，2013年有工作的年轻人与父母生活在一起的比例仍然达到了24.6%，高于经济衰退之前的22.8%。具体是什么原因目前尚不确定，但这个趋势或许很能说明薪酬滞涨和学生债务问题升级等等。

    鉴于他们现在的生活状况，值得一问的是投资者们如何能将他们购入的房屋都用租出去。随着大小公司向凤凰城房地产市场投入了数十亿美元，Fusion IQ的CEO巴瑞•里索尔茨最近也提出了类似的问题：“那么多空置的房子在沙漠的大太阳下烤着，他们究竟是怎么赚钱的？"

    或许，我们应该更深入地探究一下这些啃老族的困境。（财富中文网）

    Until recently, hedge funds and private equity firms drove the U.S. housing market's recovery, buying a shrinking pool of foreclosed and distressed homes to rent. It seemed like a lucrative investment, given that rents were rising while homeownership fell to record lows.

    But as big investors turn into landlords, it's worth asking if any considered how long it could take before junior finally gets a place of his own.

    Rents for single-family homes have now risen slower than property prices. This comes as investors flood the market with homes for lease, but it also comes as fewer young adults -- generally a key market for rentals -- create homes of their own.

    Throughout the housing recovery, plenty of attention has been paid to the sharp drop in first-time homebuyers, typically couples in their 20s and 30s. Joblessness has kept many from buying houses, but that also suggests fewer are renting, too; many are couch surfing at a friend's or relative's, or living with their parents. Even as many aspects of the housing market improve, the recovery in household formation among millennials lags behind improvements we've witnessed in home prices and foreclosures.

    The share of 18 to 34-year-olds living with their parents rose from about 27.6% before the Great Recession in 2007 to above 31%, where it remains today, according to an analysis by Trulia, a real-estate website. Millennials have contributed to the sharp decline in household formation, which likely will take a while to return to normal.

    Up until 2008, about 1.1 million new U.S. households were formed each year, mostly due to population growth. That has declined dramatically; between the first quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2011, only 450,000 new households a year were created. Even as the economy improves, household formation hasn't -- only 521,000 households were created between the first quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013.

    In all, there are 2.4 million missing households in America, notes Jed Kolko, economist at Trulia. That's more than two year's worth of household formation. He attributes a big part of the decline to joblessness. While more young adults have jobs today than a year ago, the share of 18 to 34-year-olds employed hasn't improved much since the worst days of the Great Recession. In mid-2008, 71% had jobs, but that dropped to a low of 65% in mid-2011. Since then, it has risen to 66.8%.

    It could take years before young adults build enough savings to get their own place, Kolko notes. Indeed, those with jobs are more likely to leave the nest than their jobless peers. But even the share of those with jobs living with their parents is higher in 2013 at 24.6% than before the recession at 22.8%. It's uncertain why, but the trend might say a lot about stagnant wages and escalating college debt.

    Given their living situation today, it's worth asking how investors could possibly rent all the homes they bought. It's a similar question Fusion IQ CEO Barry Ritholtz raised recently as firms big and small pour billions into Phoenix real estate: "How the hell can they be making money when there are so many empty houses cooking in the desert sun?"

    Perhaps it would be wise to take a closer look at the plight of mooching millennials.