Live data from Hacker News

What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

bloomberg.com

161–170 of 687 posts

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#161
post #146

It seems like it's the same story everywhere I look. Housing is the main driver of inequality and there is little change happening. We have the same problem here in Germany. I am currently living in Munich to finish my CS Master's at TUM and build a startup, and it is absolutely impossible to find anything remotely affordable. I am supported by two startup scholarships and make enough to get by, but no landlord even…

> Housing is the main driver of inequality Low interest rates and endless money is the main driver of inequality. Housing was just one manifestation of the root cause.

why doesn't that apply to stocks though?

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#162
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The BJP is in fact not just a big social club.

The WEF is in fact not just a big social club either. People go their to coordinate, discuss policy and make deals. They aren't going for the merch. They are there to lobby and influence, dare I say, the World Economy. I mean, https://www.weforum.org/focus/the-great-reset . They're not talking about the weather. They're looking at the future and coordinating a response. EDIT https://www.weforum.org/great-reset was a…

The WEF is if anything less than a social club. It's a series of social events. It's nothing. The only potential energy it has at all is people imputing it power on threads about how it's the secret architect of the global economy. That is not something you can say about the BJP, which has real power.

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#164
post #41
post #16

It should not be a major surprise that the gap between the haves and the have-nots will widen if you have a large compareable influx of have-nots, or to speak more precisely, an influx of new citizens with low social-economic status compared to those who already were ctiziens. In a very dispassionate perspective, it is just plain math. It is going to take time to return back to the same levels as before.

Swedish immigration has been decreasing for the last 14 years. https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/SWE/sweden/net-migrati... . Oddly enough, profitability of Swedish banks has been increasing for the last 14 years: https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/SWE/sweden/net-migrati... . Maybe you can come up with an argument actually grounded in reality, rather than the same old BS "oh it's the poor".

You can have your foot on the brake even as you hit the wall.

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing mythological about Canadian healthcare. It's strictly better than the US's

better in terms of costs and access, worse in terms of quality and wait times.

You can't claim "wait times" as a positive of letting a bunch of people die or go bankrupt

Quality is just not true

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#166
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The WEF is in fact not just a big social club either. People go their to coordinate, discuss policy and make deals. They aren't going for the merch. They are there to lobby and influence, dare I say, the World Economy. I mean, https://www.weforum.org/focus/the-great-reset . They're not talking about the weather. They're looking at the future and coordinating a response. EDIT https://www.weforum.org/great-reset was a…

The WEF is if anything less than a social club. It's a series of social events . It's nothing. The only potential energy it has at all is people imputing it power on threads about how it's the secret architect of the global economy. That is not something you can say about the BJP, which has real power.

What powers do you think the BJP has that the WEF doesn't?

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#167

It seems like it's the same story everywhere I look. Housing is the main driver of inequality and there is little change happening. We have the same problem here in Germany. I am currently living in Munich to finish my CS Master's at TUM and build a startup, and it is absolutely impossible to find anything remotely affordable. I am supported by two startup scholarships and make enough to get by, but no landlord even…

> And it's not just Munich. Every city in Germany has this problem. Well, rising cost of living is a reality everywhere (it’s called inflation). But Munich is really extreme. You might want to consider moving to Eastern Germany. If you pursue an academic career, you might want to watch for positions in Magdeburg, Greifswald or Leipzig. > How the hell are we ever supposed to build up some savings ETFs (exchange traded…

If eastern Germany is still affordable like that then it might be for a reason. Don't move there unless you pass as a German and speak the language.

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in Vancouver working remotely for an EU/US company because I couldn't get anything here. At $100k CAD, my partner and I wouldn't be able to afford a modest upgrade to a 1 bedroom condo... anywhere in the city (from a tiny basement studio) without significantly increasing our take home. The place I just visited would require $4000/m after a 20% down payment (which I don't have). If I double my savings in the next…

Back in the mid/late 90s Vancouver was affordable and a lot of flats being built. It was still more expensive that the suburbs, etc. but still cheaper than metros across the border. Sometime in the 2000s money started flowing in and those flats I was seeing in place like Kits for $150-$200k were suddenly going up a lot. Rents were also escalating. A lot seemed to be fueled by foreign money. I was looking at relocatin…

This is wrong. Vancouver was never “affordable”. My family moved to Vancouver in the mid-80s and it was by far the most expensive place in Canada. Prices had already climbed rapidly by the time we got there and prices never crashed for 40 years. At worst, it was flat for a few years.

Our 1000 sqft house in the West End was almost 300k in the mid-80s and our family was struggling financially but we were in the best school district so my parents made the sacrifice. It was almost double the price of a much larger house in suburbs of Toronto.

East Van was cheaper but still expensive relative to other cities. Vancouver house prices has always been a mystery because there is no inherent industry to pay for it. Locals blamed Asians but Germans were larger demographic in terms of immigrants but you couldn’t identify them as easily.

Re: What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Canada even if they do build housing 1) the immigration rate is so high it isn't enough to keep up 2) the house values in areas that dont build in enough housing have skyrocketed, and smart homeowners in those areas have decided to sell and move to places with lower house prices and purchase more than one, which of course rockets the price even in the places that do build a lot. So even in provinces where lots of…

> 1) the immigration rate is so high it isn't enough to keep up That could be addressed by making home building a priority and by relaxing regulations like zoning. Allow more infill. > 3) The government doesn't want to do anything about it because immigration is how they're keeping down wages That's not the only reason to support immigration. Canada, as is the case with most western nations, is facing a demographic c…

> That could be addressed by making home building a priority and by relaxing regulations like zoning. Allow more infill.

Unfortunately, it seems like incentives aren't aligned with the people responsible for zoning and regulation, for that to happen.

Incumbent homeowners for whatever reason are better organized at mobilizing around their political interests

Post reply on HN