The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents • Hacker News Board

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#431

Post by kevin_thibedeau » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 6:30 PM UTC

ethbr0 wrote: post #331

mywittyname wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have noticed that most millenials seem to have completely forgotten the concept of "starter home" and assume that as soon as you turn 25 you should be entitled to a 4 bedroom house with a pool, huge yard, wonderful neighborhood, three-car garage, etc. "Starter homes" for young people is the stuff that was built 30-40 years ago that hasn't been updated. So they are buying those mcmansions because that's what was b…

Single point of reference, but my 1985-built house was constructed at a much higher standard than my 2010-built house. The properties of wood and physics have remained surprisingly constant over the decades.

It's not a single point. Builders are cutting corners any way they can. Interior trim is expensive to install so they just declare that the modern trend is bare walls, floor to ceiling that you can bang up easily. Tract home inspectors will skip over most units so you can leave out flashing around windows and doors. This is their mentality.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#432

Post by slothtrop » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 6:30 PM UTC

snidane wrote: post #282

slothtrop wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it isn't. Housing prices as they are are a product of supply and demand. Such that, regulations are preventing the building density required to meet unceasing demand propelled by immigration. Historically rate of taxes were not much different than they are now, whether for North America or the UK.

Housing prices increasing because of slow zoning and regulations has been debunked already. Typical argument used by property developers. The reality is that building houses for investment is more profitable for developers so they keep building it. As opposed to affordable housing actually used for living. The result is a glut of luxury investment apartments and lack of affordable nonluxury housing.

No, they just can't build enough. It's not as though building high-rise condos and houses is mutually exclusive.

In Japan, houses don't really appreciate. People just knock them down and build new ones with much more ease. There's certainly no shortage of developers wanting for "investment" apartments, it's not the deciding factor. The demand can actually be met there.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#433

Post by refurb » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 6:30 PM UTC

tidepod12 wrote: post #284

dcolkitt wrote: post #246

> Housing is more expensive for them than prior generations I harp on this constantly. But housing is not more expensive in the majority of American metros. Adjusted for inflation the median cost per square foot of new housing is almost exactly the same as it was in 1990. (This doesn't even take into account that mortgage rates are drastically lower since then.) We get skewed on this for two reasons. One is because h…

>One is because homes today are substantially larger and have more amenities than they did in previous generations. I have noticed that most of my fellow millennials seem to have completely forgotten the concept of "starter home" and assume that as soon as you turn 25 you should be entitled to a 4 bedroom house with a pool, huge yard, wonderful neighborhood, three-car garage, etc. Among my friends that have bought ho…

I have noticed that most of my fellow millennials seem to have completely forgotten the concept of "starter home"

I've noticed this too, but obviously it's not universal (lest someone accuse me of bashing millennials).

And with regards to houses getting bigger, I keep hearing about the "golden years" when you could buy a home on a single income. Sure, but those homes were similar to what my parents starter home was - 1000 sq ft, 2 bed, 1 bath with a family of 5 living in them (siblings sharing rooms).

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#434

Post by ApolloFortyNine » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 6:31 PM UTC

babelfish wrote: post #393

dcolkitt wrote: post #246

> Housing is more expensive for them than prior generations I harp on this constantly. But housing is not more expensive in the majority of American metros. Adjusted for inflation the median cost per square foot of new housing is almost exactly the same as it was in 1990. (This doesn't even take into account that mortgage rates are drastically lower since then.) We get skewed on this for two reasons. One is because h…

> Two is that we're highly skewed to a handful of elite metros, whose housing markets are not representative of the country as a whole Right, but what matters is the housing price where people are. It doesn't matter what the housing market looks like in South Dakota if I don't want to live there. While houses in South Dakota may be 1/10 the price of houses in NYC (likely cheaper, honestly), they also have 1/10 the po…

>And it's simply not feasible for the vast majority of people living paycheck to paycheck to just up and leave to Raleigh like you imply.

There was a time where people would move countries with nothing but what they can carry at a chance of improving their life. At a time where the only way to travel was by boat for weeks and the only way to communicate to relatives was by mail.

Now we balk at the idea of moving cities when it's easier than ever before, and we can communicate instantly across the world.

To be clear, it's not just "Raleigh" or "South Dakota", it's really any city outside of California + New York. I live in Richmond, an hour and a half from DC, and you can buy 2000 sqft homes for 200k.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#435

Post by feralimal » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 6:32 PM UTC

onion2k wrote: post #197

feralimal wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Give it a few months and I think house prices will fall!

House prices will never fall significantly. As soon as a house enters the market at anything below the going rate it's bought by a landlord or a rental company. This will keep house prices high forever.

Well, I'm only saying that because apparently over 700k people have become unemployed on account of the C.V. That is a significant number of the working population in the UK. This should mean that there would a significant decrease in prices - the bottom would have fallen through the market. I know that the government have pumped huge amounts into the economy which is inflationary. Still, I think house prices will have to drop.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#436

Post by Ar-Curunir » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 6:32 PM UTC

save_ferris wrote: post #31

collyw wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will probably be going against the grain here, but I managed to rent a flat by myself while in university years ago with a part time job in a supermarket at weekends and applying for some hardship funds and other money available at the time. Rents have risen a lot since then, but is it really impossible for someone in work to be able to afford rent? Or are they insisting on living in a fashionable part of town? (Fo…

Not in my case, I was easily able to afford rent and I’ve stayed employed throughout the pandemic as a tech worker. The challenge has been maintaining my sanity. My previous apartment was small and didn’t have space for a good home office setup since I never expected to work from hone when I leased it. Additionally, I was having little social interaction due to the pandemic since Texas wasn’t doing a good job prevent…

The tech industry is not representative of most industries right now.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

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Post by graywh » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 6:36 PM UTC

ransom1538 wrote: post #406

tidepod12 wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It should be noted, they don't build 2 bedroom homes anymore I don't know if this is what you meant by this, but I do see this same argument come up a lot, and it's a great example of the "entitlement" I'm referring to. The only reason it would be relevant that they don't build 2 bedroom houses anymore is if you for some reason think you must have a newly built houses. The old 2 bedroom houses didn't suddenly disapp…

"The only reason it would be relevant that they don't build 2 bedroom houses anymore is if you for some reason think you must have a newly built houses." Yep. Hence "they don't build 2 bedroom homes anymore" "The old 2 bedroom houses didn't suddenly disappear." They didn't. But the population is growing.

The old 2 bedroom houses are disappearing in many neighborhoods. "Tall skinny" is a swear word in my town.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#438

Post by xyzzyz » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 6:37 PM UTC

egh wrote: post #380

dcolkitt wrote: post #246

> Housing is more expensive for them than prior generations I harp on this constantly. But housing is not more expensive in the majority of American metros. Adjusted for inflation the median cost per square foot of new housing is almost exactly the same as it was in 1990. (This doesn't even take into account that mortgage rates are drastically lower since then.) We get skewed on this for two reasons. One is because h…

I'm not sure what you're arguing here. The simple fact is the amount people pay for housing is up since the 1990s. You can find this data on the BLS web site: https://www.bls.gov/cex/csxmulti.htm Here is the data adjusted for constant 2020 dollars: 1992 $9,799.06 1993 $9,543.99 1994 $9,760.55 1995 $9,924.05 1996 $9,825.29 1997 $10,106.90 1998 $10,473.38 1999 $10,712.59 2000 $10,506.40 2001 $11,055.55 2002 $11,121.33…

I spend much more on food now than I had when I had been a student, but it's not because the food is much more expensive, but rather I am much wealthier now.

Grows in expenditures does not immediately imply growth in costs.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#439

Post by kevin_thibedeau » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 6:37 PM UTC

computerphage wrote: post #262

war1025 wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is that it's a regional, not generational, problem.

It's not just a regional problem if it's happening in every region.

The rust belt cities don't have skyrocketing housing prices if you're willing to buy non-McMansion older stock.

Re: The majority of 18- to 29-year-olds in the US are now living with their parents

#440

Post by ruste » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 6:38 PM UTC

wpurvis wrote: post #120

collyw wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will probably be going against the grain here, but I managed to rent a flat by myself while in university years ago with a part time job in a supermarket at weekends and applying for some hardship funds and other money available at the time. Rents have risen a lot since then, but is it really impossible for someone in work to be able to afford rent? Or are they insisting on living in a fashionable part of town? (Fo…

This is something that really depends on where you live more than anything. I will say there is no state currently where you can afford an apartment by yourself making minimum wage.

I've seen this claim and associated study pop up a couple of times. The study is done year on year and it's been amusing watching the increasingly long lengths they go to to hide the fact that their comparing _average_ rent for a _two bedroom_ apartment to the _minimum_ wage.

Anecdotally, this is simply not true. I lived in a fairly nice area next to my university for the better part of the past five years at well below the poverty level. (~$10,000) per year so far less than minimum wage.