Dive Brief:

• As if the housing industry in the U.S. didn't have enough doubts of its own, some Wall Street types are saying they think it's too broken to get going again.
• The investors spoke with MarketWatch before the latest sales numbers for single-family homes came out but, although those numbers varied widely by region, the net gain nationally was 6.4%.
• Among the structural faults cited in the interviews was dependence on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to support home-buying, the fact that it is the highest-priced part of the market where sales are growing most and the reluctance of young potential buyers to take on mortgage debt.

Dive Insight:

The MarketWatch survey looked to investors who focus on housing. In one particularly unsettling response, investor Sam Zell said he thinks the home-ownership rate will drop to 55% because people are delaying marriages and, with that, home purchases. Zell, who invests in multifamily housing, said he does not think his part of the housing market has ever "had a better set of future demographics.”