Ask HN: Anyone else feels the commoditization of real estate is unethical?

Post by capitalsigma » Sat, Aug 13, 2022, 2:26 PM UTC

rojobuffalo wrote: post #257

targ65 wrote: post #172

Like another comment here mentioned, housing is complicated. People don't want to live in a random house in the middle of nowhere ('roof over your head'). Some people prefer to be homeless on the street versus getting to a roof over their head that they don't like. People want to live where they want to live (near family, jobs, culture etc) Take NYC for instance. Politicians try to address the NYC housing crisis from…

I would start by making property taxes substantially higher for non-owner-occupied property. If you are rent-seeking rather than residing on the property you should pay way more, maybe 4x or higher, in taxes. Housing prices would crash and that would be the point; but everyone who owns property would be against it because they don't want to see their assets drop in value. The counter-argument people make is "that wou…

Post by davedunkin » Sat, Aug 13, 2022, 2:29 PM UTC

MattRix wrote: post #216

missedthecue wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing how many people in government globally refuse to understand this. The UK government has just been talking about inheritable 50 year mortgages. No one wants to build more housing. I think it might help people understand to put it in terms like this: there are 100 housing units out there and 150 people. How do we solve the problem?

Yes, a ton of new homes need to be built, but also a lot of the existing homes are empty. The US has a vacancy rate of somewhere near 10%.

Post by nemo44x » Sat, Aug 13, 2022, 2:29 PM UTC

hackerlight wrote: post #170

nemo44x wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We do - it’s called property tax. How do you think local police, firefighters, schools, parks, services are funded? By land taxes.

I have no idea what country you're in, maybe wherever you live has that (albeit most likely it's woefully insufficient). I'd just add that a property tax isn't that, because it also taxes the building.

Post by _8j50 » Sat, Aug 13, 2022, 2:29 PM UTC

saddlerustle wrote: post #265

_8j50 wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People can own multiple residencies, they just can't sell them at more than 3-5% profit. Corporations can't own residencial buildings if they are single family units but for multi-family properties, so long as it is being offered as rent/lease/purchase that should of course be allowed. I was focusing more on single family units but you are right to highlight that.

Plenty of people rent single family units.

Post by cesarvarela » Sat, Aug 13, 2022, 2:30 PM UTC

thepasswordis wrote: post #132

>a basic human right You do not have a basic human right to the labor of the people who build and maintain these houses. This is where this entire discussion collapses for me. Yes, I agree there needs to be more access to housing. And it’s frustrating to me that our government is too inept to simply provide it. For instance: we have committed to about 45 Billion to Ukraine. At a cost of $100k/unit (achievable at scal…