「家賃収入上昇」のカラクリ

やや古い話だが、ZeroHedgeのBenefit To US Economy From Deadbeat Squatters: $50 Billion Per Yearという記事より。JP Morganのレポートを引用している。

Rental income and "squatter's rent" 

Rental income has been soaring. In yesterday’s February personal income report, rental income of persons increased 2.6% on the month to $326 billion. After bottoming at $120 billion in February of 2007, rental income has nearly tripled in the subsequent four years. Even though rental income accounts for less than 3% of personal income, over the past four years it has accounted for over 16% of personal income growth. This rise has little to do with landlords getting more from their tenants. In fact, it has very little to do with what speakers of the English language would normally consider "rent." Instead, it mostly reflects mortgage payments of the household sector coming down, in part because of the aggregate decline in household mortgage debt due to net cancellation of mortgages associated with foreclosures. In this sense, some of this rise in aggregate rental income is related to what some have called "squatter's rent" -- the monetary benefit to the household sector from not staying current on their mortgage obligations -- though most squatter's rent is outside the official data. 

統計上は家賃収入が伸びているが、これは「いわゆる」家賃ではなく、住宅ローンを踏み倒している世帯が得ている「収入」ということらしい。つまり、毎月$2000のローンを払う人がそれを踏み倒している状態では$2000の収入がある、ということ。

この収入はSquatter's Rentと呼ばれ「隠し経済刺激策」ともいえるものである。去年の最大時は年額換算で600億ドルに登った模様。今はやや減少し年間換算500億ドルペース。好調に見えた米国経済を支えた原動力も失速しつつある。

追記
ちなみに自分が住んでいるあたりでは賃貸アパートは余り気味で、For Rent看板かけっぱなしのところが目立つ。