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Priced out of home ownership

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Priced out of home ownership

#521

Post by lazyasciiart »

Cheer2171 wrote: post #461
tmnvix wrote: post #274

People intuitively jump to the conclusion that the problem is caused by a lack of building. While more building would help, a lack of it isn't the main cause of this problem. Ask yourself, do Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the US, Britain, Ireland, etc, all have the same inability to build or is there maybe some other common cause? In my view this is symptomatic of a more fundamental issue - global asset price infla…

Seattle is building far more than many other cities and rents are lowering as a result. Rents are up nationally, but down over 7% in Seattle. If you've visited recently, the amount of new construction and cranes is immense. https://www.forbes.com/sites/hyunsoorim/2024/05/20/here-are-...

Ten years ago people talked about how much Seattle was building and how many cranes were everywhere as well - then as now, it’s because all that building is in the same ten square yards of “urban villages” across the city where you are allowed to build densely.

Re: Priced out of home ownership

#522

Post by flog »

tmnvix wrote: post #274

People intuitively jump to the conclusion that the problem is caused by a lack of building. While more building would help, a lack of it isn't the main cause of this problem. Ask yourself, do Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the US, Britain, Ireland, etc, all have the same inability to build or is there maybe some other common cause? In my view this is symptomatic of a more fundamental issue - global asset price infla…

NZ is maybe a poor example, as we do not have capital gains taxes on houses (or most things), and do tax foreign investments (via a ~1.5% annual wealth tax, so house flipping is tax-free money)

Re: Priced out of home ownership

#523

Post by harry8 »

WalterBright wrote: post #508
amelius wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another cause: people live until an older age.

Life expectancy increase has leveled off a while ago.

Life Expectancy differs from human years lived, no? Got any numbers?

It seems difficult to believe all the medical treatment advances and insane amounts of money spent are having zero effect on postponing date of death (Or even the date of loss of ability to live independently including death).

Of 100,000 people born in a nation 80 years prior, how many still alive and living independently in that nation. Compare with the same metric in 2004. This is to net out immigration, which can be considered separately.

Re: Priced out of home ownership

#524

Post by devindotcom »

Cheer2171 wrote: post #461
tmnvix wrote: post #274

People intuitively jump to the conclusion that the problem is caused by a lack of building. While more building would help, a lack of it isn't the main cause of this problem. Ask yourself, do Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the US, Britain, Ireland, etc, all have the same inability to build or is there maybe some other common cause? In my view this is symptomatic of a more fundamental issue - global asset price infla…

Seattle is building far more than many other cities and rents are lowering as a result. Rents are up nationally, but down over 7% in Seattle. If you've visited recently, the amount of new construction and cranes is immense. https://www.forbes.com/sites/hyunsoorim/2024/05/20/here-are-...

Anecdotally, all of my friends renting have had their rents continually raised with no breaks. Perhaps there is a wider trend, but if so, their landlords do not seem aware of it.

Re: Priced out of home ownership

#525

Post by forinti »

speeder wrote: post #104

I live in Portugal and here the situation is outright ridiculous. 1. There are a ridiculous amount of abandoned properties, when I walk the streets of major cities, sometimes more than half of the buildings even in expensive areas are boarded-up. 2. Meanwhile I am afraid of being homeless soon, I lost my job recently, and the unemployment benefit I can receive is literally half of my rent. Thing is, there is no "wors…

I feel that empty houses and apartments should pay more taxes after a year or two of being empty.

I also see a lot of empty properties for years on end in the middle of town.

Re: Priced out of home ownership

#526

Post by Schiendelman »

lazyasciiart wrote: post #521
Cheer2171 wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seattle is building far more than many other cities and rents are lowering as a result. Rents are up nationally, but down over 7% in Seattle. If you've visited recently, the amount of new construction and cranes is immense. https://www.forbes.com/sites/hyunsoorim/2024/05/20/here-are-...

Ten years ago people talked about how much Seattle was building and how many cranes were everywhere as well - then as now, it’s because all that building is in the same ten square yards of “urban villages” across the city where you are allowed to build densely.

And now we are running very short of buildable volume. There are not many places left you can build a tower. We need to allow a lot more. Also, in the meantime, we have added more time to the permitting process, all in the name of aesthetics/design, not safety.

Re: Priced out of home ownership

#527

Post by DogOfTheGaps »

As many have noted, the problem is largely Byzantine zoning regulations, NIMBYism, and a "vetocracy" system that makes it extremely hard to build housing in so major metropolitan areas. For example, NYC likely needs at least half a million new homes to keep up with demand.

Re: Priced out of home ownership

#528

Post by Schiendelman »

dogcomplex wrote: post #494
pfdietz wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eliminate regulations and laws limiting supply.

Or increase planning department funding with higher emphasis on throughput. It's the bureaucratic delay (nearly a year for approvals or revisions in many places) that causes much of the pain, not the regulations themselves.

Giving them money is unlikely to help. They do not have any incentive to go faster.

Re: Priced out of home ownership

#529

Post by dukeyukey »

Stranger43 wrote: post #95

In a lot of ways this is a problem creating itself. The reason Home Ownership is desirable is that the pricing of houses go up faster then both inflation and depreciation caused by wear decreases the utility value of a dwelling, and the reason that houses are expensive is that the state actors are invested enough in this cycle to make sure it never really breaks. In a real functional market there would be no real ben…

> The reason Home Ownership is desirable is that the pricing of houses go up faster...

No.

No.

The reason it's desirable it that I've lived in three flats in three years because subsequent landlords wanted to sell their property. I don't want to buy because it's a good investment, I want to buy so I can actually settle down in an area, and not be constantly moving.

Re: Priced out of home ownership

#530

Post by tmnvix »

flog wrote: post #522
tmnvix wrote: post #274

People intuitively jump to the conclusion that the problem is caused by a lack of building. While more building would help, a lack of it isn't the main cause of this problem. Ask yourself, do Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the US, Britain, Ireland, etc, all have the same inability to build or is there maybe some other common cause? In my view this is symptomatic of a more fundamental issue - global asset price infla…

NZ is maybe a poor example, as we do not have capital gains taxes on houses (or most things), and do tax foreign investments (via a ~1.5% annual wealth tax, so house flipping is tax-free money)

This is true, but I wouldn't underestimate the tax advantages property investment has relative to other investments in many countries.

Take Australia for example. People in NZ often say a CGT won't help because AU has one and it doesn't seem to make a difference. What they forget is that there is 50% discount on CGT there, so the relative advantage of property investment remains. Also negative gearing.

In the US I believe there are two obvious advantages given to residential property investment - 30 year fixed mortgages and tax deductions on interest payments.

I think it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to guess that all of those countries I mentioned earlier have different reasons for residential property investment being favoured relative to more productive investments.

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