Earlier quoted context omitted.
Has it ever been possible to buy a house on minimum wage?
I moved here years ago and was having doubts if it's the right time to buy at these insane property prices. A coworker said "I know some people who've been holding out for fair housing prices since 1949, they are still waiting".
Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods
171–180 of 598 posts
Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sold on the Economist article. I do believe in home ownership. The idea that a person spends a lifetime in the same home and community is a good one. We're tribal creatures, and you want a tribe -- you want people to know their neighbors, have community BBQs, and live in real communities. You want enough of a vested interest in municipal politics that democratic structures work. You want kids growing up with…
I don’t think the article is saying ownership is a bad thing in itself, but that the vast resources that have been poured into promoting and subsidising it have had some pretty undesirable consequences. Here in the UK we have started imposing tax penalties on buy to rent that disincentivizes owning more than one or two rental properties. The problem with punishing institutional investors is it would take huge amounts…
An LVT might work but I think it is only ethical if you advantage primary residences with a complete lack of tax.
Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is that it gets harder and harder for normal people to own anything (build up wealth), while building wealth is the best retirement startegy there is. I myself, for example, live in a city where owning the place I live in is just barely getting in reach for me, although I am in the top 30% income bracket of my country. I therefore have to put my savings into the stock market, which is at an all time high.…
>The problem is that it gets harder and harder for normal people to own anything One of the reasons is that people insist on living and working in some of the wealthiest and most expensive cities in the world. I live a cheap town and my commute to work in the 2nd biggest city in my country is just 25 minutes.
Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods
#174In the long term, the ethically right answer seems pretty clearly to me to be a land value tax [0]. But due to encouragement of home ownership [1], that's not going to democratically tenable in a lot of countries for 20+ years. Unfortunate situation. [0] In 1879, a man asked "How come all this new economic development and industrialized technology hasn't eliminated poverty and oppression?" That man was Henry George,…
Wouldn't a land value tax encourage urban sprawling ? Current ubran policies in the western world, coupled with the normalization of remote working already do this to some extent.
Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know they exist. What I'm saying is that European cities are built around the idea of people being able to live in walking distance of... Everything. Suburbs here exist for snobs and assholes.
Who are you speaking on behalf of?
Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
How about a land value tax with an exemption for primary residence?
This sounds like a reasonable trade off which doesn’t hVe the risk of uprooting people from their primary residence.
Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wouldn't a land value tax encourage urban sprawling ? Current ubran policies in the western world, coupled with the normalization of remote working already do this to some extent.
It would probably encourage less urban sprawl by driving more efficient use of city center land and housing.
As population density increases, desirability increases, and people may try investing with the goal of renting, which with an LVT will more sharply decrease the desirability of population density.
Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods
#178This is cart before horse stuff. As noticed by other commenters some people need to rent. I am blaming 'quantitative easing'. If the central bank buys a whole lot of assets where do other investors go?
I believe the Netherlands used to allow full tax write-off of the mortgage interest (dunno if they still do). That certainly is bound to heat up the market.
It is tax deductable, so you are taxed less, typically max 50% of the interest sum.
Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Round here in Cornwall the jobs are things like surf instructor, supermarket worker, barperson, etc. That's not gonna stretch to the local house prices. That was the case. A colleague of mine, originally from St Just, moved to London for work as so many have to do. Another from near Cockermouth did the same. Both now work remotely full time from their 'home towns' on decent wages. Covid has done wonders for local c…
The real problem is how much the bank earns off the interest it charges you throughout your life while it had to do what?... create new money from nothing into the money supply with special permissions given to it by the government. This is why housing is so expensive to begin with. This bullshit needs to stop.
Re: Dutch cities want to ban property investors in all neighborhoods
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those empty homes should be torn down or squatted in. I imagine an organisation like a squatters union could be set up to manage protection for them.
Sure. Let's fix a housing crisis by completely breaking up laws, society and order.
I doubt this is the magical unique problem everyone claims it is, but “oh no think of people’s investment” when people are sleeping outside is valuing property over people.