Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/american-lust-for-homeownership-tied-to-credit-crisis Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript The drive to own more homes and renovate old ones in the U.S. fueled the number of bank loans that underlie the country's meltdown. In the first in a series of interviews on the economic downturn, Daniel McGinn, author of "House Lust," details his take on the factors behind the housing and credit crises. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: We begin a series of conversations about the roots of the downturn. Judy Woodruff looks at how the changing view of a traditional American home played into the housing crisis. JUDY WOODRUFF: The height of the real estate boom saw people building enormous new homes, expanding existing ones, and flipping others to make a quick buck. That devotion to homeownership helped set in motion the forces that led to the mortgage and credit meltdown.It's a subject of a book called "House Lust: America's Obsession with Our Homes." Its author is Daniel McGinn, and he joins us now.Daniel McGinn, thanks for being with us. You write about how Americans' relationship with their homes have evolved over time. Tell us about that.DANIEL MCGINN, Author, "House Lust": Well, homeownership has always meant a lot to Americans. The American dream, we call it. We've called it that for more than a century. But in the last 10 years, something really did change. We started to look at these things as not just a place to live, but as a way to get rich. JUDY WOODRUFF: And what was the trigger? What changed it? Because, as you say, you know, we think back, for the longest time, people have thought owning a house is a good thing. DANIEL MCGINN: Right. I think the biggest thing we saw was that prices just started shooting up all over the country, 10 percent a year, 15 percent a year, 20 percent a year.When we were seeing the values of our homes rise — and if you didn't already own a house, you felt like you had to jump into one quick or you'd miss out — this really changed the way we thought. We weren't just living in these houses; we were hoping to get rich off of them.