KENNETH CHANG – Stonehenge Begins to Yield Its Secrets

AMESBURY, England — About 6,300 years ago, a tree here toppled over.For the ancients in this part of southern England, it created a prime real estate opportunity — next to a spring and near attractive hunting grounds. According to David Jacques, an archaeologist at the University of Buckingham, mud was pressed into the pulled-up roots, turning them into a wall. …

Lillian Mongeau – Silicon Valley’s Skyrocketing Housing Costs Shut Teachers Out

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Skyrocketing housing prices in Silicon Valley, the red-hot center of tech entrepreneurship and one of the most highly educated enclaves in the world, are making it hard for teachers to call the area home. “Housing is one of the biggest reasons we lose teachers from one year to the next,” said Dave Villafana, president of the …

Ben Terrall – San Francisco: A City in Crisis

From any perspective other than the robust prosperity of the 1%, San Francisco is a city in crisis. In the past five years, reported evictions have increased 54.7 percent. The number of homeless children has doubled since 2007. A recent study compiling data through 2013 reports that black people are 7.1 times more likely to be arrested in San Francisco …

Wolf Richter – Housing Bubble Means American Dream Withers at Record Pace

The current housing boom has Dallas solidly in its grip. As in many cities around the US, prices are soaring, buyers are going nuts, sellers run the show, realtors are laughing all the way to the bank, and the media are having a field day. Nationwide, the median price of existing homes, at $236,400, as the National Association of Realtors …

Death Of The Middle Class: Homeownership Rate Drops To 29 Year Low As Average Rent Hits Record High – Tyler Durden

Overnight Gallup released its latest survey which confirmed just how dead the American Dream has become for tens if not hundreds of millions of Americans. According to the poll, the number of Americans who do not currently own a home and say they do not think they will buy a home in “the foreseeable future,” has risen by one third to 41%, vs. …