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Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

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Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#471
post #337
post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (...) there should be heavy state intervention (...) This has been tried so many times throughout different cultures and time periods, and by different means. It will not benefit whoever is actually living on the properties, but will detract from their situation. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt has several concrete examples of attempted interventions, and is written to give a basic intuition on why this ha…

It continues to be disappointing to see so many people turn to state power as a solution to the problem of scarcity. Scarcity is solved through production not political power.

Can't produce more land. Best we can do is tax people for hoarding it

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#472
post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you really like mass transit and want to live without a car, America is probably not for you. USA got rid of most streetcar systems a long time ago and rebuilding them from scratch in current NIMBY climate is basically impossible. And subways, which are much more expensive than ground transit, only make economic sense in several metropolises. Try some European city with reasonable rents like Warsaw. Even the skysc…

I love Warsaw and think I would personally really enjoy living there, but if the GP isn't willing to move to Boston, they're not going to like living in Warsaw. Much smaller then NY, much more homogeneous, not a major world center of arts or finance. There are very few cities in the world that check all the boxes he listed for NY, and they're all extremely expensive as well.

Exactly, although London certainly isn’t $5k

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My partner and I have been agonizing over this exact dilemma. We have an income number and an expenses number and when those cross a certain point, we've gotta go somewhere else. So there's a very good chance that we'll immigrate somewhere in a few years. But yeah, try as we might, we couldn't come up with another US city that either of us would want to live in.

To me, only other places that compare to NYC are Singapore and Sydney. Great food in Singapore, great weather (usually) in Sydney. The people can be a bit busy in Singapore though. Certainly no NYC, but they ticked all my recreation, arts, food, people and transport boxes. Unfortunately, they’re all so goddamn expensive to live in.

Singapore?? To New York????? Sorry what? Singapore is fine as far as a hot place with incredible food and good hotels to spend a few nights, but it’s also quite possibly the most boring major city I’ve been to outside of that and there doesn’t seem to be any cultural life beyond shopping - based on my own experience and that of friends who’ve lived there.

I could also take issue with comparing Sydney to NY, but I’ll let that one go ;)

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#475
post #390

The problem for me, as a long time NYC resident, is that there's no other place in America I want to live even with work from home as a possibility. I like mass transit. I like not owning a car. I like that the city is generally safer than the rest of America. I like that it's the center for tech on the east coast, the arts for the entire country, and finance for most of the world. I like that we generally get along…

> I like that the city is generally safer than the rest of America. Coming from New Hampshire: this is just fantastically untrue. NYC is about one hundred times more violent than where I live. It is so thoroughly not the same that I can usually tell when people come from cities simply based on how nervous they are. I think most people don't realize how badly it affects them, or how violent cities are versus "the rest…

NYC is generally safer than the rest of America. NH is typically the safest region in the entire country. But the truth is that there are high numbers of relatively rural areas that are substantially more dangerous than NYC. Also, I think that crimes/mile is fairly un-instructive because of how much the legal boundaries of a city shift/as well as the amount that a person will travel in a given location (I live in NYC, and probably live/work/eat within a 1.5-2 mile range).

p.s. I really like your content!

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#476
post #390

The problem for me, as a long time NYC resident, is that there's no other place in America I want to live even with work from home as a possibility. I like mass transit. I like not owning a car. I like that the city is generally safer than the rest of America. I like that it's the center for tech on the east coast, the arts for the entire country, and finance for most of the world. I like that we generally get along…

> I like that the city is generally safer than the rest of America. Coming from New Hampshire: this is just fantastically untrue. NYC is about one hundred times more violent than where I live. It is so thoroughly not the same that I can usually tell when people come from cities simply based on how nervous they are. I think most people don't realize how badly it affects them, or how violent cities are versus "the rest…

Indeed. I come from a rural village where I could leave my bicycle unlocked over night at the center of the village and it wouldn't get stolen. When I moved to a city, one realization I made was that cycling is just a lot less convenient if you have to worry about your bicycle getting stolen. Also I can't leave my home door unlocked when I go somewhere (and thus have to remember to take the keys with me).

I think small stuff like this just adds to your total anxiety without you even realizing it. It's really sad how difficult it is to live in extremely safe, small villages like my childhood home nowadays.

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#477
post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you really like mass transit and want to live without a car, America is probably not for you. USA got rid of most streetcar systems a long time ago and rebuilding them from scratch in current NIMBY climate is basically impossible. And subways, which are much more expensive than ground transit, only make economic sense in several metropolises. Try some European city with reasonable rents like Warsaw. Even the skysc…

There’s no fundamental reason “America is probably not for” people who want high-quality, dense urbanism. The rent in NYC is a clear sign that there’s demand for it.

It’s also a sign there’s not sufficient supply of it. Hence that America as a whole sucks at mass transit.

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did that work for Berlin? Try moving there today and tell me how affordable it is for newcomers. Rent control is basically subsidizing existing grandfathered tenants by fleecing those new wishing to move in, without fixing the underlying housing shortage in any way. The solution is always, always, having (building) more supply than the demand, yet nobody seems to get it.

Damn, are rents in Berlin over 5000 euros/5000 dollars? Must be nuts.

No, but there basically aren't any apartments on the market, and the ones left are twice the price they costed a few years ago.

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They don’t owe anything to you or the city. Of course not. And I don’t owe them anything either. By the same terms of your argument there’s no reason I should be satisfied with just letting them do what they want when it affects me directly since you’re stating that I should not try to do anything that affects them directly. I have my desires, which requires placing demands on their behavior since they are ignorant…

> just letting them do what they want when it affects me directly Unless someone straight up breached their contract to evict and give "your" apartment to someone else, you were not affected "directly" by anything. > I have my desires, which requires placing demands on their behavior Desires? Is this really the word that you want to use? The more you write, the more you are displaying your sense of entitlement. > (yo…

EDIT: Ok, after the parent edit I am convinced you’re a little bit more reasonable, however, I can tell you’ve already made up your mind and are more interested in defending your position (which you haven’t actually ever elaborated) and making reductive claims about the character of your opponents (that they are just “complaining” or “entitled”) than actually having a discussion. You seem to want your interlocutor to follow all the polite rules of discussion while abandoning them all yourself.

My rent increased significantly for no reason other than a shift in market rates. I struggle to see how this does not count as being directly effected.

Yes. Desires. People have them. Usually they dictate behaviors. It’s why people move to New York. It’s why you’re quoting my comments and writing replies—you want to show me that you’re “smarter” and that my dissatisfactions are illegitimate and you think a great way to do so is to write targeted quips that take one or two lines of text out of context, but unfortunately you’re not succeeding. It’s clear you have no interest in actual persuasion or discussion—if you do, I highly recommend taking a few writing or debate classes, maybe brushing up on what it means to empathize, learn about logos/ethos/pathos, read some philosophy, things like that.

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#480
post #467

"The rent is too damn high!" A lot of talk of supply side issues, economics 101, etc in these threads. Greetings from New Zealand, where just like so many other anglosphere economies we've been playing the low interest property speculation game for decades now. We got really, really good at it. The last couple of years saw 50% increases in property prices. Madness. A funny thing's been happening in just the last six…

Prior to the NZ Land Tax Abolition Act it was pretty good there no?
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