Housing Is a Labor Issue: Land owners are taking all the wage gains
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Housing Is a Labor Issue: Land owners are taking all the wage gains
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Re: Housing Is a Labor Issue: Land owners are taking all the wage gains
#2While I agree that landlords are vampires, that here is wrong:
> But there is a stack of research a mile high that shows that the number one thing we need is a lot more housing supply
There are millions of units vacant everywhere, be it the US [1] or Germany [2]. The last thing the world needs is more housing construction, especially with the insane CO2 footprint of anything involving concrete.
The problem is that rural areas ("flyover states") have been left to rot: no reliable electricity grid, no public transport, basic infrastructure from grocery stores over schools to basic healthcare has closed down, no high-speed Internet which is a necessity for modern life - and particularly the latter is a major contributor in rural flight, as employers move towards more urban areas, which sets off a vicious cycle as the people follow the jobs, and the remaining infrastructure becomes too expensive to maintain. That this neglect is a direct cause of people losing trust in democracy is just the icing on the cake (and again, this also contributes to rural flight as LGBT and women flee far-right areas in droves).
We need to invest into rural areas again.
[1] https://www.nar.realtor/magazine/real-estate-news/16-million...
[2] https://www.demografie-portal.de/DE/Service/Blog/191028-Wohn...
Re: Housing Is a Labor Issue: Land owners are taking all the wage gains
#3Of course, if everyone's wages would rise X%, it will increase rents and real-estate prices accordingly, as those are always prices as high as the market would bear and the more disposable income the market has, the more it can bear price increases.
Re: Housing Is a Labor Issue: Land owners are taking all the wage gains
#4While I agree that landlords are vampires, that here is wrong: > But there is a stack of research a mile high that shows that the number one thing we need is a lot more housing supply There are millions of units vacant everywhere, be it the US [1] or Germany [2]. The last thing the world needs is more housing construction, especially with the insane CO2 footprint of anything involving concrete. The problem is that ru…
Technically I suppose "housing supply" doesn't have to imply "housing construction".
Re: Housing Is a Labor Issue: Land owners are taking all the wage gains
#5While I agree that landlords are vampires, that here is wrong: > But there is a stack of research a mile high that shows that the number one thing we need is a lot more housing supply There are millions of units vacant everywhere, be it the US [1] or Germany [2]. The last thing the world needs is more housing construction, especially with the insane CO2 footprint of anything involving concrete. The problem is that ru…
> Vermont, Maine, and Alaska have the highest vacancy rates—between 22% and 20%, according to the study.
So not really highly desirable metropolises. Places where most people actually want to live have low vacancy rates and not enough housing.
> We need to invest into rural areas again.
No argument from me there, even though it is less bang for the buck to invest in rural facilities. But doing that doesn’t preclude simultaneously relaxing zoning laws and whatnot that cause housing crises in cities.
Re: Housing Is a Labor Issue: Land owners are taking all the wage gains
#6While I agree that landlords are vampires, that here is wrong: > But there is a stack of research a mile high that shows that the number one thing we need is a lot more housing supply There are millions of units vacant everywhere, be it the US [1] or Germany [2]. The last thing the world needs is more housing construction, especially with the insane CO2 footprint of anything involving concrete. The problem is that ru…
>The last thing the world needs is more housing construction, especially with the insane CO2 footprint of anything involving concrete.
That self imposed limit is exactly what keeps prices high. Every city has some run down areas that serve no purpose but are wasted space and could be turned into housing.
Also, as some others already said it, living in urban areas reduces your footprint versus living far away in the countryside so the CO2 released from dense urban building makes up for it from the scale of people living together compared to low density rural areas which cost more in maintenance, transportation, etc.
>There are millions of units vacant everywhere, be it the US [1] or Germany [2].
It doesn't help anyone if those vacant units are not where the jobs and education is, especially that 100% WFH is not even remotely(ha!) mainstream, but return to office has being normalized again in Germany, at best into hybrid arrangements so everyone still needs to live close to the office anyway. I can't carry that cheap rural house with me into the city where my job is.
>We need to invest into rural areas again.
Germany and other countries could bring life back to rural areas if it mandated employers allow 100% WFH whoever possible as that would get a lot of people moving back to their hometown closer to their family especially if their family could help out with raising kids.
It could also cause a surge in birthrates and formation of new families. Instead we normalized living with roomates in your 30's, to work for some corporation who needs you in an expensive city with scarce real-estate, just to do stuff you can do from your laptop from anywhere.
We had a good thing going for a while in the pandemic(not the virus, deaths, social distancing, and all that) but the lack of car trips, lack of air and noise pollution, people taking their remote jobs back to live with their families, reduced immigration causing rents to plummet, touristic areas finally livable again, etc. But our dear leaders and their business overlords saw that and said "this is affecting our profits and GDP, we can't have that, we must go back to the way it was before!".
Re: Housing Is a Labor Issue: Land owners are taking all the wage gains
#7While I agree that landlords are vampires, that here is wrong: > But there is a stack of research a mile high that shows that the number one thing we need is a lot more housing supply There are millions of units vacant everywhere, be it the US [1] or Germany [2]. The last thing the world needs is more housing construction, especially with the insane CO2 footprint of anything involving concrete. The problem is that ru…
While i agree in general, the threat of construction would force the prices to tumble instantly , so it is a good thing.
Re: Housing Is a Labor Issue: Land owners are taking all the wage gains
#8Of course, if everyone's wages would rise X%, it will increase rents and real-estate prices accordingly, as those are always prices as high as the market would bear and the more disposable income the market has, the more it can bear price increases.
Housing is a fixed cost that everyone is required to pay. I can stop buying chicken. I can't stop paying for housing. There are peculiarities about housing as a "product" that make it nonsensical to compare to other products or markets. The housing market can easily increase prices as much as it wants without losing out on revenue or potential gains, and in many markets it has done so to the degree that millions of people are priced out or relegated to spending all their discretionary funds on it, as well as forcing them to reduce their food, heating and/or transport budgets.
Re: Housing Is a Labor Issue: Land owners are taking all the wage gains
#9The problem isn't land owners it's landlords. Renting should be illegal and anyone caught accepting rent should lose his property to the renter.
Owning a lot of land/houses isn't really the problem. It's when you're not using them that's the problem. You should just sell and not leech on society by renting.
Re: Housing Is a Labor Issue: Land owners are taking all the wage gains
#10While I agree that landlords are vampires, that here is wrong: > But there is a stack of research a mile high that shows that the number one thing we need is a lot more housing supply There are millions of units vacant everywhere, be it the US [1] or Germany [2]. The last thing the world needs is more housing construction, especially with the insane CO2 footprint of anything involving concrete. The problem is that ru…
>The last thing the world needs is more housing construction, especially with the insane CO2 footprint of anything involving concrete. That self imposed limit is exactly what keeps prices high. Every city has some run down areas that serve no purpose but are wasted space and could be turned into housing. Also, as some others already said it, living in urban areas reduces your footprint versus living far away in the c…
I wouldn't return to more rural areas if 100% WFH is possible. Some left it for a reason and not to get better internet.
And, at least in germany, many rural areas are not so unattractive. I know plenty rural villages with great internet. Especially in BW public transport is solid, the next bigger population center is close by and there are many jobs. It's just conservative, culturally boring, inflexible and really set in their old ways.