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The headline should be "renters will have more of their income available to spend on other things, which will improve the local economy, diversify it, and make
by rogerbinns 11y ago
The headline should be "renters will have more of their income available to spend on other things, which will improve the local economy, diversify it, and make it more resilient". I've never understood the US obsession with increasing housing costs being a good thing. As a thought experiment it would be far better for them to go down by 8% a year than the 8% increases that keep being welcomed as in this article.
- bmelton 11y agoIt's not that people want housing to be more expensive, but they do want that housing to be in demand. Housing is in demand when an area is desirable -- offering good schools, providing efficient social services, vibrant and diverse markets are contributing factors to a desirable area, so when housing prices increase it is a sign that the area is desirable. As an area becomes more desirable, the price of housing goes up as the result.
- postitnotecode 11y agoIf rents always went down there'd be no incentive to build and own supply. I think the thought experiment here is that though this is a seemingly simple supply and demand problem on the surface its also exceedingly complicated to actually plan and adjust for due to all the related inputs to housing (schools, water, fire, political representation, etc.)
- S4M 11y agoI've always thought that people in power tended to invest in real estate, and the obsession with increasing housing prices (not only a US thing) was those people simply protecting their interests.