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I agree with you here. It really annoys me when people tell me they hope their house continues to increase in value at an exponential rate. Houses are not like

I agree with you here. It really annoys me when people tell me they hope their house continues to increase in value at an exponential rate. Houses are not like stocks, families don't buy and sell them to make money. They are places to live. The people I hear this the most from are in the middle class, the ones who are most likely not to benefit from the increases. I hope this thinking stops.

AnimalMuppet 10y ago
If it continues, it's going to help me a lot when my kids are gone, and I can downsize to a smaller (less expensive) house.
- superuser2 10y ago
  Kids may not leave if they can't pay for their own housing.
- ZoeZoeBee 10y ago
  And there is the rub, the Boomers have treated their homes as investments, on average their homes are by far their largest "investment", with plans of downsizing to finance their retirement. The problem with this is you need to find someone to purchase the home. Over the last few years a large part of the reason in the increase in the value of homes has had to do with historically low interest rates and a statistically low inventory due to the number of homes underwater or with low equity. The Boomers are just starting to retire, over the next decade many will attempt to do as you describe creating a glut of homes for sale, while the median household income has continued to decrease making it impossible for the generations coming behind to absorb those homes based upon their income and Demographics, remember Gen X is much smaller than the Boomers and the Millenials have not come into their own yet.
  - AnimalMuppet 10y ago
    Well, with each generation containing more members than the previous, it would all work out, except for that pesky "median household income continuing to decrease" part...
    - ZoeZoeBee 10y ago
      Well that would be the case if Demographics and birthrates supported that. The Boomers were the largest generation by births Gen X was much smaller and the only reason there are more Millenials than Boomers at the moment is immigration and some of the Boomers have died off. Birthrates at or below replacement level in most of the developed world for the last 40 years are begging to show their consequence, the problems will grow over the next few decades as Demographics take hold. As of this year more people are dying in the EU every year than are born, Japan has been mired in this for years and China will see the problem as well as their working age population is in decline.
clock_tower 10y ago
From what I've heard, the rich treat housing as an expense, one that typically returns about 50% of the money you put into it. I'm following that strategy myself; we'll see if it works...

AnimalMuppet 10y ago

If it continues, it's going to help me a lot when my kids are gone, and I can downsize to a smaller (less expensive) house.

superuser2 10y ago
Kids may not leave if they can't pay for their own housing.
ZoeZoeBee 10y ago
And there is the rub, the Boomers have treated their homes as investments, on average their homes are by far their largest "investment", with plans of downsizing to finance their retirement. The problem with this is you need to find someone to purchase the home. Over the last few years a large part of the reason in the increase in the value of homes has had to do with historically low interest rates and a statistically low inventory due to the number of homes underwater or with low equity. The Boomers are just starting to retire, over the next decade many will attempt to do as you describe creating a glut of homes for sale, while the median household income has continued to decrease making it impossible for the generations coming behind to absorb those homes based upon their income and Demographics, remember Gen X is much smaller than the Boomers and the Millenials have not come into their own yet.
- AnimalMuppet 10y ago
  Well, with each generation containing more members than the previous, it would all work out, except for that pesky "median household income continuing to decrease" part...
  - ZoeZoeBee 10y ago
    Well that would be the case if Demographics and birthrates supported that. The Boomers were the largest generation by births Gen X was much smaller and the only reason there are more Millenials than Boomers at the moment is immigration and some of the Boomers have died off. Birthrates at or below replacement level in most of the developed world for the last 40 years are begging to show their consequence, the problems will grow over the next few decades as Demographics take hold. As of this year more people are dying in the EU every year than are born, Japan has been mired in this for years and China will see the problem as well as their working age population is in decline.

clock_tower 10y ago

From what I've heard, the rich treat housing as an expense, one that typically returns about 50% of the money you put into it. I'm following that strategy myself; we'll see if it works...