11–20 of 704 posts
That is a link to the banker's manifesto. The ideal scenario [in the manifesto] is for home prices to far eclipse yearly income, and for houses to be owned by banks instead of occupants. Everything old is new again...
I think there's a pretty critical piece of analysis missing here: inflation. An alternative explanation might be that housing prices are being driven up by inflation, and wages haven't caught up yet. There are two ways to lower the home value/income ratio: 1. Decrease housing prices 2. Increase wages We haven't seen meaningful wage increases for a long time now, so perhaps it is time. Maybe this is just a symptom of…
I've heard 3x income as a rule of thumb for how much house one can afford, but it looks like that's never been widely followed. It also doesn't make a whole heck of a lot of sense as interest rates have varied so widely - a better rule of thumb might be a ratio between the total amount of payments over the life of a mortgage and one's income.
One thing this ignores is interest rates and availability of credit. The biggest determinant of homes people buy is not the total price, but rather how much cash do they need for down payment, and what will the monthly payment be. With low interest rates and increased credit availability ( you don’t need 20% down payment in many cases now), people on the same income are actually able to buy a more expensive home. I t…
Some very clever and influential people better start finding and implementing real solutions to housing prices right now. If they don't, expect overwhelming support from Millennials for massive expansions to public housing and rent control, if not even more draconian measures.
I think there's a pretty critical piece of analysis missing here: inflation. An alternative explanation might be that housing prices are being driven up by inflation, and wages haven't caught up yet. There are two ways to lower the home value/income ratio: 1. Decrease housing prices 2. Increase wages We haven't seen meaningful wage increases for a long time now, so perhaps it is time. Maybe this is just a symptom of…
Some very clever and influential people better start finding and implementing real solutions to housing prices right now. If they don't, expect overwhelming support from Millennials for massive expansions to public housing and rent control, if not even more draconian measures.
Why do you consider the 2 examples you gave “draconian”?
Some very clever and influential people better start finding and implementing real solutions to housing prices right now. If they don't, expect overwhelming support from Millennials for massive expansions to public housing and rent control, if not even more draconian measures.
Why do you consider the 2 examples you gave “draconian”?
Rent control won’t work for the same reason a price control for food or cars won’t work.
But really covid was the perfect opportunity to let the housing market collapse and reset buying us an additional decade. Wasted opportunity by bailing out landlords.