Ducking the boomerang
What happens when the head of an empty-nest retires, or gets laid off? Unless the nest is well-feathered, he (and she) downsizes, conserving resources. If they are like many, their 401-k mutual fund investments haven't grown much over the years, and now-instant financial planning takes stage-front. The now too-big family pad is a (unfortunately, somewhat-reduced, but available) source of liquidity, and a move into reduced quarters may eliminate remaining mortgage payments. This may be a partial explanation of the current high percentage of home purchases being for cash.
When the kids, lucky to get a job, find themselves priced out of what used to be a low downpayment first-home market by for-cash purchasers, they must, for starters, turn to a rental. The ones without jobs come back from college (with big debts) to find that their former bedroom has mutated first from a home office and job-search center, to being owned by someone they never met, who has his/her own needs. Maybe dad can help with the rent money.
Unpleasant as it may be for many in this 300-million country, home ownership has become a luxury enjoyed by a smaller proportion of the population. Renting is where the action is. And all those units need refrigerators, laundry facilities, beds, drapes, rugs, and the other necessities.
So where is the opportunity?
For the producers of that stuff it may be more profitable and efficient if the landlord pays for it and packs its cost into the monthly rent. So Whirlpool (WHR), Tempur-Sealy (TPX), and the rest of the home-furnishing community get their deserved share of the demand revenues. And Home Depot (HD) and Williams-Sonoma (WSM) know how to pick up the crumbs (?) from the ongoing relocations.
That reasoning has percolated up into the investment-researching community and is
