31–40 of 817 posts
Pandemic came, he stayed in Brazil doing remote work. Found him a few days ago. He told me he gave up going to Portugal and decided to stay in Brazil for now mostly because cost of living there. His initial salary would be 1.6K euros.
I hope Portugal won't tackle it like my country, with a cap on rent and other market distortions. I think that only makes it worse. Fun fact: I - as a single - live in a way too big, luxurious and expensive apartment because of this. I rented it, when I was still working for the man and was making a killing. Now I live a much more modest 4-hour-workweek life. It would be better for me to move to an apartment half the…
The issue is somewhat the same in Paris. It’s very hard to afford living there because non local use properties as an investment and prefer them staying empty than risking them degraded and people who want to rent make more money on Airbnb.
It’s fine if you want the city to become Disneyland but very depressing otherwise.
What countries aren't struggling with this sort of dynamic? I almost think that the US is doing pretty well with this in the sense that you can still move somewhere that's cheap relative to your salary, but that only holds true if you're able to do it with remote work. So, maybe it's not true at all.
Portugal's demographics, like much of western Europe, didn't look like they were going to change dramatically: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Portugal - so getting set up to build a bunch probably wasn't a priority.
It looks like immigration picked up a lot, and also there has been an influx of wealthier immigrants.
It will be interesting to see how they handle it. Having people with money move to your country ought to be a positive thing, but you need to build housing for them so they're not competing with locals - and winning.
I hope Portugal won't tackle it like my country, with a cap on rent and other market distortions. I think that only makes it worse. Fun fact: I - as a single - live in a way too big, luxurious and expensive apartment because of this. I rented it, when I was still working for the man and was making a killing. Now I live a much more modest 4-hour-workweek life. It would be better for me to move to an apartment half the…
There are other ways to be stuck, I'm in subsidized housing which I would like to give to the less fortunate but buying is impossible and leaving would mean half the space and four times the rent making me have less remaining per month than the less fortunate in my current appartment.
Sounds like the Portuguese government should start building flats as fast as possible. Other countries in the EU do it and it works.
What EU countries? The only ones I am familiar with have housing prices spiraling out of control just like in Portugal.
There’s much truth here, but it isn’t the entire picture. Lisboa and Oporto are hideously overpriced, and it is indeed hard to see how a normal Portuguese earner can afford to live in either. Even Vila Nova de Gaia, which was the “cheap” side of Oporto, is now parlously expensive. This effect has bled along the coast, and many coastal villages now ask €200k for an unmodernised one bedroom house. But… the interior of…
Maybe it's just a matter of time? In Canada even the small cities got unaffordable , mainly after COVID started. With the interest rate raise a lot of people are hoping for a crash, some banks are saying it will be up to this 20-40% in some cities. Hopefully that helps. There's no where livable in Canada that is affordable to have a house right now.
There’s much truth here, but it isn’t the entire picture. Lisboa and Oporto are hideously overpriced, and it is indeed hard to see how a normal Portuguese earner can afford to live in either. Even Vila Nova de Gaia, which was the “cheap” side of Oporto, is now parlously expensive. This effect has bled along the coast, and many coastal villages now ask €200k for an unmodernised one bedroom house. But… the interior of…
When I transition from tech, I hope to spend my time building affordable housing in Portugal and Spain.
Sounds like the Portuguese government should start building flats as fast as possible. Other countries in the EU do it and it works.
What EU countries? The only ones I am familiar with have housing prices spiraling out of control just like in Portugal.
Unsustainable. If you're a wealthy individual living in an expensive residence surrounded by other wealthy individuals living in expensive residences, you still need garbagemen to collect your garbage. You still need food. Whether you order from local restaurants staffed by employees, or buy your groceries at the supermarket, staffed by employees, janitorial personnel, security guards, and managers, you're still rely…