41–50 of 594 posts
As a person born and raised in Soviet Union, I strongly believe that whoever thinks that a proper economic response to raising prices is literally to order them to stop raising , is a lunatic.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Genuinely curious: what do you think would be a better response?
Raising prices = Demand > Supply. You can either try to curb the demand (by e.g. creating incentives for companies to build offices elsewhere, move government bureaucracy somewhere else, etc.) or improve the supply by facilitating new construction, which in most places on earth is limited by, again, local government restrictions. edits: grammar
As a person born and raised in Soviet Union, I strongly believe that whoever thinks that a proper economic response to raising prices is literally to order them to stop raising , is a lunatic.
As a person born and raised in Soviet Union, I strongly believe that whoever thinks that a proper economic response to raising prices is literally to order them to stop raising , is a lunatic.
Genuinely curious: what do you think would be a better response?
For example, if tons of foreigners are buying homes, this might be a problem. Regulate it.
If tons of people are buying 2-3 homes and renting, thereby driving a wedge between home-owners/non-home-owners, regulate that.
If the issue is low interest rates, which are necessary for the regular economy, consider building in housing prices into the inflationary index, because it's a real thing that people have to pay for. This might affect how rate are set. That said, it's ECB and not really Germany anymore. FYI this should hint at the incredibly serious problems of Euro-area countries losing monetary policy by joining the Eurozone ...
If it's really just supply/demand build more homes.
It could be a function of older, crappier areas finally getting caught up in the modern world, in which case this might be an existential change that Berlin will have to deal with. The 'downtown' spots will eventually be paid for by people with decent jobs. Some pretty harsh and weird rules would have to be put in place to stop this.
Zone some areas for affordable housing.
My bet is the answer is mostly to build, but also that it's a 'neighbourhood' issue i.e. Kreuzebeurg (sorry, forget the spelling) is becoming gentrified and that's going to be a tough nut to alter.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Raising prices = Demand > Supply. You can either try to curb the demand (by e.g. creating incentives for companies to build offices elsewhere, move government bureaucracy somewhere else, etc.) or improve the supply by facilitating new construction, which in most places on earth is limited by, again, local government restrictions. edits: grammar
What's wrong with legally limiting artificial price hikes to prevent people from abusing Demand > Supply for the sake of their greed? [Edit] To clarify, they seem to be "artificial" price hikes because they don't in any way necessary to cover costs. People realize they can charge more and get more money, so they simply do. That's inherently avaricious and unethical. Sure, maybe prices work themselves out, so that pri…
One way to think about prices is as a signal. When greedy landlords raise prices, they send two signals: (1) To other landlords and wanna-be-landlords, saying it's an attractive market which would justify new construction or cleaning up your spare bedroom and putting it on the market, both increasing supply, and (2) to current and future renters, making it more economical for them to move elsewhere and thus save on their rent, thus reducing demand.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nope. New buildings are exempt.
So living in new buildings becomes undesirable even further because they are more expensive to live in than the rest of the city!
If affordable housing is an issue, then perhaps the government should provide it for its citizens, like building huge high-rises in Berlin. I used to rent in an expensive city but bought a cheap house in the suburbs (thankfully I work remotely). Everything is cheaper out here, from gas to utilities to food. But I did experience classism from my friends and family: there is status living in a world-class city. And hav…
As a person born and raised in Soviet Union, I strongly believe that whoever thinks that a proper economic response to raising prices is literally to order them to stop raising , is a lunatic.
Genuinely curious: what do you think would be a better response?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Raising prices = Demand > Supply. You can either try to curb the demand (by e.g. creating incentives for companies to build offices elsewhere, move government bureaucracy somewhere else, etc.) or improve the supply by facilitating new construction, which in most places on earth is limited by, again, local government restrictions. edits: grammar
You're assuming the high prices are a result of high demand. Speculators and other bad actors are also driving up prices.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nope. New buildings are exempt.
So living in new buildings becomes undesirable even further because they are more expensive to live in than the rest of the city!