From the housing bubble bursting to today’s housing shortage, the decade gave the nation a steady supply of housing market heartbreak. But amid the volatile prices, natural disasters, and labor shortages, the market has continued its trek towards a healthier status while demographic shifts bring prosperity to once sleepy areas of America. One thing is for sure: This decade of real estate woes is going to be remembered.
How best to characterize one of the most consequential decades ever in American real estate? "Epic roller-coaster ride" doesn't quite cut it. More like a plunge into the depths followed by a neck-snapping rocket ship into the great beyond. One way or another, it's been a wild trip.
On a more earthbound level, the past 10 years were a bit like recovering from a monumental bender.
In the early part of the 2000s, we Americans got ourselves into an extraordinary mess with shady subprime mortgages and loose credit, a glut of new construction, and overly ambitious investors. It ultimately caused the housing bubble to burst—and plunged the world into the deep, dark Great Recession.
