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Institutional investors are betting that Americans still want backyards and porches even if they don't have the credit to buy stand-alone homes of their own, according to equity research analyst Ivy Zelman. She says that's a good thing for renters. "They can professionalize a very antiquated industry and provide the consumer with more choices for a different type of shelter," she says.

The head of the Independent Community Bankers of America says the government has gone too far demanding banks act like law enforcement.

Tight credit standards and student loan debt may be holding back the housing market, but equity research analyst Ivy Zelman thinks that homeownership will pick up along with the cyclical recovery. Banks are already "incrementally easing" their requirements for mortgage applicants with credit scores above 660, she says, and banks need to "fill the void" left by the refinancing slump.

As banks lower down payment requirements and graduates get a handle on student loan debt, young people in their twenties and thirties are inching back toward homeownership, according to equity research analyst Ivy Zelman. "The perception that no millennial is buying today is just false," Zelman says.

Every day, consumers give out their credit card or bank account numbers to strangers whom they trust to take out the correct amount and safeguard their sensitive information. "That's terrifying if you really step back and think about it," says Jeremy Allaire of Circle Internet Financial.