3
Photography and Foreclosure
As the etymology of the word “economy”—from the Greek oikos, house— reminds us, homes are economic assets. Yet although domestic real estate has long been understood as a valuable commodity, and even a form of investment, it has rarely acquired the status of a high-yield, speculative venture. Historically, the growth in the value of residential real estate just barely outpaces inflation. Looking across the entire twentieth century, we find that the average annual increase in home prices was just 0.2 percent, while the average rate of return on stocks in the same period was around 9 percent.1 In fact, according to housing economist Robert Shiller there has been only one extended period since 1900 in which the return on US real estate investment outpaced both inflation and returns on stocks and bonds: the housing bubble that ran from the late 1990s until 2007.2 During this period, average nominal returns on residential real estate were 11 percent, and in some cities home prices appreciated by as much as 80 percent. The housing bubble thus marked a unique period in the history of US housing in which the home no longer gave refuge from the volatility of the market but instead came to symbolize the spectacular magic of speculative investment.3 US consumers became mesmerized by houses opened to public view through a visual culture dominated by glossy architecture and design magazines and televised home shows. Entire television networks were dedicated to recasting the home as simultaneously a fetish object and a savvy investment, and to narratives in which real estate agents and house-flipping speculators were well-nigh epic heroes. The home was no longer regarded simply as a consumer good but as a financial asset imbued with an aura of erotic desirability (hence the twentyfirst-century coinage “real estate porn”). The primary subject position from which we viewed these homes—as they were purchased, built, updated, remodeled, flipped, marketed, and renovated again—was as voyeurs. In much 99
