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Apparently many think it's because people in SF have forgotten how to build. They are constructing inefficiently using expensive materials. Credit sets the pri
by branchless 10y ago
Apparently many think it's because people in SF have forgotten how to build. They are constructing inefficiently using expensive materials.
Credit sets the price. Banks issue as much credit as they can, leaving workers with enough to eat / heat / clothe themselves and no more.
I cannot understand how anyone can think otherwise. This is how we create money.
Where is all the money going in SF with all the highly paid devs? A big wedge to the landlords. Because all productivity gains flow into land because that is what the banks use to create new debt.
- toomuchtodo 10y ago> Where is all the money going in SF with all the highly paid devs? A big wedge to the landlords. Because all productivity gains flow into land because that is what the banks use to create new debt. But you don't have to live in SF. You live there because that's where employers who will pay high wages are. Therefore, you decide to live there instead of working remotely or living somewhere with a lower cost of living. Landlords are not the problem (although, they are a symptom). Tech employers who demand you live in SF are the problem. And as long as employees continue to flock there despite the real estate cost, employers will continue to push the externality of housing costs onto them. When non-tech workers complain its too expensive to live in SF, everyone says "market forces". When tech workers complain its too expensive, its a housing crisis.
- xor1 10y ago>You live there because that's where employers who will pay high wages are People choose to live in specific cities for reasons other than their current job. >you decide to live there instead of working remotely Not everyone gets to work remotely. >or living somewhere with a lower cost of living Not everyone can do a shitty commute for years on end without becoming depressed.
- toomuchtodo 10y agoIt is still your choice to live in SF if you do so, and it is not a landlord's or land owners fault that the demand exists, its tech companies.
- branchless 10y agoMost jobs require proximity. Bankers issue huge credit against land to exploit this to appropriate surplus value.
- toomuchtodo 10y agoThis is how capitalism is designed to work. Demand is being met by supply, and if supply is insufficient, the price rises until demand has been reduced.
- branchless 10y agoSupply of land is finite, credit infinite. The supply / demand curve doesn't work here.
- Decade 10y agoSupply of housing on land is infinite. The building of affordable housing has simply been outlawed. http://www.sfyimby.org/yimby-platform/ http://www.sfyimby.org/yimby-platform/
- branchless 10y agoIt's part of an artificial scarcity strategy. Once you force supply below demand then you have to bid. That's whne the credit guys come forward to "help".
- toomuchtodo 10y agoCredit guys are helping. They are providing access to a constrained resource that people might otherwise not have access to. Living near lucrative jobs where the employer doesn't care about your housing costs is not a right.
- obstinate 10y agoWho do you think "the landlords" are? Many are the same highly paid devs you're talking about. I have several friends who own rental properties, and many more who own fractionally via exposure to public corporations and REITs.
- branchless 10y agoBy definition there must be more renters than landlords. I'm sure some early gold rushers made their money selling shovels. Most just lost out.
- obstinate 10y agoCertainly not by definition. Consider a hypothetical market with two houses for rent, separately owned, that get rented by the same person. More landlords than renters. Or consider a house for rent owned by an LLC with three partners.