Thursday July 06, 2006 
Thursday July 06, 2006
peakoil.com -> msnbc.msn.com :
The drive to get out of big cities is turning the United States into a land of nomads. "Extreme commuters" who travel more than 90 minutes to work, one way, are the fastest-growing group of commuters, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
More Americans than ever are willing to trade time in their car for the dream of a big house and a big yard. Nearly 10 million people now drive more than an hour to work, up 50% from 1990. Many are doing what California real-estate agents call "driving 'til you qualify" for a mortgage. In southern California, each exit along the interstate saves you tens of thousands of dollars. And now, the long commute is cementing itself in Europe and spreading from Japan to the rest of Asia as well.
- This is going to be disastrous.
(2006-07-06 18:01:05 SGT)
[Energy]
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As a resident of the LA Basin area of Southern California, I can confirm that "driving 'til you qualify" is a completely routine and accepted practice here.
However, I should add that there's another aspect to this. There ARE homes that people could qualify for that are closer in, but those homes are older which means that they're smaller homes on smaller pieces of land. In 1950 the average new-built American home was 950 square feet and multiple-car garages were unheard of; in 2004 the average new-built American home was 2340 square feet and 83% had 2-car or larger garages. (Ref: National Association of Home Builders http://www.nahb.org/publication_details.aspx?sectionID=702&publicationID=2028) Most of these new homes have a garage that's bigger than what the average house was 50 years ago.
This is despite what appears to be a significant reduction in average family size due to family planning.
Posted by Doug on July 07, 2006 at 02:05 AM SGT #