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Why Rent Is So High and Pay So Low

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Re: Why Rent Is So High and Pay So Low

#31

Post by neilk »

tomh- wrote: post #20
curiousjorge wrote: post #9

you dont know high cost of living with low salary if you haven't lived in vancouver, bc. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/18UwaThgGikSXzinn... You can see based on that the average is around $45~50k CAD (if the salary field is blank assume $50k or less as these are less well known, smaller companies with tighter budgets) rent for studio or 1 bedroom apartment in downtown area where lot of jobs are located i…

What is the typical rent and the typical salary (For developers) in Vancouver?

Rent in the downtown core is about $1700 for a 1-bedroom.

Developers can do decently well in Vancouver, especially if you are employed by a foreign company. I am not sure about typical salary for developers, but I'm doing okay.

So, compared to San Francisco, for a good developer, Vancouver is slightly better. However, for everyone else in Vancouver, it's a disaster, since the median income is much lower. This is why Vancouver is actually less affordable than San Francisco, for the general population.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1098143/vancouvers-housing-prices-...

Re: Why Rent Is So High and Pay So Low

#32

Post by jsn117 »

curiousjorge wrote: post #9

you dont know high cost of living with low salary if you haven't lived in vancouver, bc. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/18UwaThgGikSXzinn... You can see based on that the average is around $45~50k CAD (if the salary field is blank assume $50k or less as these are less well known, smaller companies with tighter budgets) rent for studio or 1 bedroom apartment in downtown area where lot of jobs are located i…

rent for studio or 1 bedroom apartment in downtown area where lot of jobs are located is around $1300/month + utility and other costs.

I would kill for that, just moved into a studio in SF for 2300 plus utilities. A studio.

Re: Why Rent Is So High and Pay So Low

#33

Post by habitue »

danieltillett wrote: post #10
nostromo wrote: post #6

This article doesn't answer the question and seems primary based on nostalgia. My theory: the Fed's zero interest rate policy is very good at inflating asset values: S&P500, housing, you name it. Rising income is a second-order effect: we hope that rising asset values will lead to increased wages. That used to be the case, but no longer is. Why? Because of automation and globalization probably. So, the Fed has the pe…

This is not a bug it is a feature. The rich are a lot smarter today than when they were the descendants of feudal landlords - 100 years of meritocracy combined with assortative mating makes for a very clever ruling class. Edit. Spelling.

Holy shit. I hope this is sarcastic

Re: Why Rent Is So High and Pay So Low

#35

Post by danieltillett »

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #23
danieltillett wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not a bug it is a feature. The rich are a lot smarter today than when they were the descendants of feudal landlords - 100 years of meritocracy combined with assortative mating makes for a very clever ruling class. Edit. Spelling.

My social networks include a fair number of wealthy people. Some of their kids are dumb as rocks, and they don't have to improve themselves, ever. Those are the real welfare queens. Sometimes a fool can be made a leader by other people in power. Believe me, I'm American.

You might have noticed that I said the rich are smarter than in the past, but the ruling class are very clever. As you rightly point out there are plenty of dumb rich, but relatively few of these dumb rich are ruling.

As for leaders who the figurehead is does not matter - ask yourself what do the rulers care more about; who is the POTUS or who is the head of the federal reserve.

Re: Why Rent Is So High and Pay So Low

#36

Post by webosdude »

nostromo wrote: post #6

This article doesn't answer the question and seems primary based on nostalgia. My theory: the Fed's zero interest rate policy is very good at inflating asset values: S&P500, housing, you name it. Rising income is a second-order effect: we hope that rising asset values will lead to increased wages. That used to be the case, but no longer is. Why? Because of automation and globalization probably. So, the Fed has the pe…

I think that zero interest rate policy should have ended 2-3 years ago when economy got back in shape. The zero interest rates are benefiting housing market thereby increasing housing prices. I don't understand why Feds inflation gauge doesn't take into account the housing prices/rents that well? Every month Feds see unemployment rate and review the rates accordingly. I think they should also take into consideration the housing prices equally. I feel zero-interest rates have benefited wealthy 10 times more than an average person.

Re: Why Rent Is So High and Pay So Low

#37

Post by runj__ »

ipsin wrote: post #13

I was disappointed that I could not actually scroll of down to read the article on mobile Android/chrome.

If the viewport is small enough it seems scrolling is disabled. I usually browse the web on the right side of my 15" screen and was confused when I wasn't able to scroll.

I find it weird that most people don't plan for people with 900px or so wide browsers.

Re: Why Rent Is So High and Pay So Low

#38

Post by talos »

gmarx wrote: post #19

Funny, if you look at news and popular media from the 1970s you get the impression is was an awful time economically and pretty much everyone agreed we were doomed. Rents were cheap in NYC in the 1970s? I don't doubt it; ever seen "Taxi Driver"? Yes rent control is great for people in rent controled apartments. The flip side is that as demand rises everyone who hasn't been in NYC for 40 years is SOL...which seems ana…

Up until loopholes were introduced in the 90s almost every apartment in NYC was rent stabilized, which is a very modest version of rent control. Over half of all non-public apartments for rent are still in this program. Almost no apartments are traditionally rent controlled anymore.

Rent laws are often blamed for the city's problems in the 1970s, but there were plenty of other issues (underinvestment, depopulation, municipal bankruptcy).

Re: Why Rent Is So High and Pay So Low

#40

Post by Domenic_S »

happytrails wrote: post #11

How many people died during WW2? It all seems like supply and demand to me. If we want lower housing prices in major cities we need more supply. Anecdotal, L.A. is built to the max horizontally. If L.A. would allow more vertical space to be used prices would drop.

Ding ding ding!

When something that's in limited supply gets popular, it also gets expensive. If someone wants to argue that the limited supply is artificial, be my guest, but I have to point out that it's a lot easier and cheaper to build more humans (or move more humans in) than it is to build more housing for them -- after some inflection point demand will always outstrip supply.

So we build Manhattan straight up, to the limits of engineering, and can now fit 8 million people (~5x more than today). Great, what happens to the next million people? They get priced out! It will always happen!

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