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Apartment rent growth is declining, shifting the market to the tenant’s favor

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Re: Apartment rent growth is declining, shifting the market to the tenant’s favor

#71

Post by midoridensha »

piva00 wrote: post #70
midoridensha wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, as usual, people keep whining about "the corporations!" and "the billionaires!" and blaming them for America's problems. The problem isn't them so much, it's the regular middle-class voter. The NIMBYs aren't billionaires or big corporations, though some corporations (not most) have been taking advantage of the situation. The problem is that regular, everyday Americans are greedy assholes, and expect (no, demand!…

Housing affordability is not an American issue though, it's happening in any major developed city across the globe. There is something else to it that isn't purely zoning laws, building codes or whatever. My personal opinion is that it's the culmination of policies incentivising housing as an investment vehicle, I know plenty of people who bought a first house when interest rates were low (or negative like here in Sw…

It's not happening everywhere: we don't have this problem in Japan.

>Cheap loans inflated the price of housing very fast

Interest rates here are 0.5% for primary homes. That's not the problem. The problem is a lack of supply. Over here, there's constant new construction, and zoning codes don't prevent new construction or higher density the way they do in other countries. So houses don't appreciate; they depreciate. So people don't use them as "investments"; they're just a place to live.

>Corporate landlords are just another facet of this imbalance, they can play around with their stock of vacant homes to keep inflated prices

We have corporate landlords here too. High competition and lots of supply keep prices stable.

Re: Apartment rent growth is declining, shifting the market to the tenant’s favor

#72

Post by piva00 »

midoridensha wrote: post #71
piva00 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Housing affordability is not an American issue though, it's happening in any major developed city across the globe. There is something else to it that isn't purely zoning laws, building codes or whatever. My personal opinion is that it's the culmination of policies incentivising housing as an investment vehicle, I know plenty of people who bought a first house when interest rates were low (or negative like here in Sw…

It's not happening everywhere: we don't have this problem in Japan. >Cheap loans inflated the price of housing very fast Interest rates here are 0.5% for primary homes. That's not the problem. The problem is a lack of supply. Over here, there's constant new construction, and zoning codes don't prevent new construction or higher density the way they do in other countries. So houses don't appreciate; they depreciate. S…

> So houses don't appreciate; they depreciate. So people don't use them as "investments"; they're just a place to live.

That's the core aspect for it to work in Japan though, it's a massive cultural difference in how houses are viewed as (and how policies were made) compared to other countries. The cultural difference is what blocks policies to increase supply in other countries, to break the culture of seeing a house as an investment and making current prices drop is exactly the friction point that demands some politicians to commit career suicide if they want to change it. I can only see it happening when the social fabric is close to a breaking point due to unaffordability, before that I don't see how Western countries that have pushed for generations housing as an investment to change course.

Re: Apartment rent growth is declining, shifting the market to the tenant’s favor

#73

Post by mensetmanusman »

sergiotapia wrote: post #5

I wish the government would do more to control this terrible situation. If you can't afford a home with a 40 hour job, something is sick in this country. Even an apartment is beyond reach. Blackrock and Vanguard are blights on this planet.

The only thing America could do is attempt to fund the growth of new cities are invest majorly in second tier cities to support competition.

Re: Apartment rent growth is declining, shifting the market to the tenant’s favor

#74

Post by RhysU »

pcurve wrote: post #3

https://archive.is/y28IG I've been looking for a decent 1BR in Manhattan. For something clean and decent, the floor is $4,500. The 40x rent annual income requirement by many landlords, one needs to be making $180,000. sigh.

I am a former resident of this building, recommend it and the neighborhood highly, and they have a one bedroom for $4K. No broker fee last I knew.

https://www.equityapartments.com/new-york-city/upper-west-si...

Richie and Pedro the doormen are fun if they still work there.

Re: Apartment rent growth is declining, shifting the market to the tenant’s favor

#75

Post by lordfrito »

fragmede wrote: post #65
nomel wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you can't afford a home with a 40 hour job I think this has always been the difference between a "job" and a "career". My first full time job was making pizzas. I worked 40 hours a week, dropping sauce and toppings onto squished bread. Nobody would have been able to afford a pizza if I would have been able to afford a home, in my state.

You do realize that wasn't true in the past, right? In the 1950's, it was entirely possible for man to support a family with kids on the income from a job and not a career. There is no shortage of problems in that era, but the American dream wasn't fiction.

> but the American dream wasn't fiction

Something tells me it's still possible to live with a 1950's "American Dream" standard of living off of a $15 to $20 an hour job.

No computers, no cell phones, clothes washing by hand, no eating out, etc. Generous 1000 ft. square foot house with two small bedrooms and a single car. Note that houses in Levittown ("America's First Suburb") were 750 square ft. [1]

I understand GenZ wants to live in McMansions full of amenities, close to the trendy areas of town, eating out more often than they cook, as is their aspirational lifestyle. But there's nothing wrong with living small-ish, rural-ish, within your means, and building equity instead of throwing money away.

I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion here. But hey, I started small, lived in some "trashy" areas of town (moved up from a trailer) and now 30 years into my career I live comfortably in a very nice place. It takes time and patience folks.

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/91feb/9102house...

Re: Apartment rent growth is declining, shifting the market to the tenant’s favor

#76

Post by joot82 »

gary_0 wrote: post #60
ttul wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wait. In 2025, all the five year terms for those ultra cheap pandemic mortgages will reset.

When that starts to happen the Bank of Canada will just lower interest rates to 1% again. The Canadian economy relies heavily on the real estate shell game; they're not going to risk blowing it up. (Maybe they should , and weather the pain so that the economy can go back to producing tangible value again, but that's not how politics works.)

sad but probably true, everybody in charge is invested

Re: Apartment rent growth is declining, shifting the market to the tenant’s favor

#77

Post by dehrmann »

midoridensha wrote: post #71
piva00 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Housing affordability is not an American issue though, it's happening in any major developed city across the globe. There is something else to it that isn't purely zoning laws, building codes or whatever. My personal opinion is that it's the culmination of policies incentivising housing as an investment vehicle, I know plenty of people who bought a first house when interest rates were low (or negative like here in Sw…

It's not happening everywhere: we don't have this problem in Japan. >Cheap loans inflated the price of housing very fast Interest rates here are 0.5% for primary homes. That's not the problem. The problem is a lack of supply. Over here, there's constant new construction, and zoning codes don't prevent new construction or higher density the way they do in other countries. So houses don't appreciate; they depreciate. S…

> we don't have this problem in Japan.

This backs up that limited supply is a large part of this. Japan's population has been decreasing for 50 years, so ignoring domestic migration trends, it has enough housing. It's also seen deflation for a long time.

Re: Apartment rent growth is declining, shifting the market to the tenant’s favor

#78

Post by ttul »

gary_0 wrote: post #60
ttul wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wait. In 2025, all the five year terms for those ultra cheap pandemic mortgages will reset.

When that starts to happen the Bank of Canada will just lower interest rates to 1% again. The Canadian economy relies heavily on the real estate shell game; they're not going to risk blowing it up. (Maybe they should , and weather the pain so that the economy can go back to producing tangible value again, but that's not how politics works.)

The BoC is relatively technocratic and they won't lower interests purely to help homeowners. However, given how much leverage Canadians carry, a shock to the housing sector would probably bring about a recession, which would force the bank to cut rates... at which point you do have to wonder whether house prices would just head back up to the stratosphere in short order.

Re: Apartment rent growth is declining, shifting the market to the tenant’s favor

#79

Post by alicanK »

ppeetteerr wrote: post #55
hnburnsy wrote: post #16

The opposite news from Boston... https://www.boston.com/real-estate/the-boston-globe/2023/06/...

Having lived in Boston, I can say that the city is way overpriced. You may argue that rent is in line with what people are willing to pay for it and that may be true. However, the city is failing its residents who have no protection against unreasonable increases (due to a state law) and new development is nowhere near strong enough. At least in cities like SF, Honolulu, and NYC you trade affordability for hire wages…

You are 100% right. Bostoners come to West MA.

Re: Apartment rent growth is declining, shifting the market to the tenant’s favor

#80

Post by reducesuffering »

ppeetteerr wrote: post #55
hnburnsy wrote: post #16

The opposite news from Boston... https://www.boston.com/real-estate/the-boston-globe/2023/06/...

Having lived in Boston, I can say that the city is way overpriced. You may argue that rent is in line with what people are willing to pay for it and that may be true. However, the city is failing its residents who have no protection against unreasonable increases (due to a state law) and new development is nowhere near strong enough. At least in cities like SF, Honolulu, and NYC you trade affordability for hire wages…

Boston area price is easy to explain. A place doesn't need to be the #1 in any category, if it has a good mix of all of those. Boston area ranks high quality of life by any metric. Lower crime, high education, strong economy, history, sports, architecture, walkability/transit, etc. Even the weather is probably preferable on avg. when you have almost half the country in the Midwest and Texas.
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