Mar 19 2008 12:36PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
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This month's consumer media bandwagon story is the slumming of the suburb. (Brought to you by the same folks behind such smash hits as "Shark attacks!", "Killer South American bees!" and the "Rich people walking away from mortgages!")

Apparently, the idea here is that the suburbs are the new slums because everybody's moving back to the city and nobody's buying their foreclosed upon and abandoned homes in the 'burbs. I've read at least a dozen stories on this theme in the last week. Best I can tell, it started with an article in The Atlantic and lazy editors across the land sent reporters out to write about the crumbling suburbs. Get a little anecdotal evidence and voila -- you've got a trend!

For what it's worth, the latest NAHB survey of consumer preferences (presented at IBS last month) shows only 7 percent of consumers want to buy their next home in the central city. That's compared to 30 percent who want to live in close-in suburbs and 35 percent who want to be in outlying suburbs. But why let the facts get in the way of a good story?