The anecdotal example of Brooklyn is a bad example IMO. Everyone knows how gentrified Brooklyn has become. As a result, real estate prices for those areas are g

The anecdotal example of Brooklyn is a bad example IMO. Everyone knows how gentrified Brooklyn has become. As a result, real estate prices for those areas are going way up. For those in SF, the same is happening to Oakland. Also, having just got a mortgage, I can anecdotally counter that despite Quicken's claims with Rocket, getting a mortgage, at least a "good" mortgage loan is still incredibly difficult. Thanks to 2008, 2016 loans require a shit ton of disclosures. So, if there's a bad loan lying around, you best bet it's going to be hard to disguise it. As for the < 20% down? That's not a sign of a bad economy per se. I'd factor that more to a generation of poor savers. NPR recently had a whole segment on how little the current generation of millennials saves. Home prices increasing is due to the fact that it's a seller's market. But, rent prices are increasing as well. IMO you could look at it from a different perspective. Recent homeowners are buying because it's currently cheap to borrow and the long-term result is that they actually save money because rent is increasing at such a dramatic pace. All said, I do agree w/ the headline, just not with the author's anecdotal proof.