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I'm an outsider, but when I look at the US market there seem to be really cheap houses away from the major cities. Far cheaper than Australia. For example: htt

by vertis 6y ago

I'm an outsider, but when I look at the US market there seem to be really cheap houses away from the major cities. Far cheaper than Australia. For example: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Rochester_NY/show-newest-listings https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Rochester_... Now I don't really know anything about Rochester. But you would be hard pressed to find anything in a city for ~50-60k in Australia. Not comparing Apples to Apples, but the 1 bedroom apartment I bought in Melbourne suburbs in 2016 was AU$265k If I look at somewhere like Bendigo (about 2 hours from Melbourne). The cheapest houses are about 250k. https://www.domain.com.au/sale/bendigo-vic-3550/?ptype=apartment-unit-flat,block-of-units,duplex,free-standing,new-apartments,new-home-designs,new-house-land,pent-house,semi-detached,studio,terrace,town-house,villa&excludeunderoffer=1&sort=price-asc https://www.domain.com.au/sale/bendigo-vic-3550/?ptype=apart... Does Australia have housing problems as well? Possibly.

CydeWeys 6y ago
Rochester is definitely cheap, but for a reason: It's a city on the down slope past its peak. It's a deindustrialized rust belt city with a population down 38% from its pre-WWII high. That goes a long way to explain why housing is so affordable. And I wonder what the tech job situation is like there (though that may matter less now, what with the pandemic increasing the acceptability of WFH). It's hard to move somewhere for cheap housing where you literally wouldn't know a single person, though. Social life is important. Also, there's the winter weather. I hope you like cold and snow.
- pc86 6y ago
  > It's hard to move somewhere for cheap housing where you literally wouldn't know a single person, though. Social life is important. And this is fine, but it seems very disingenuous to say that it's a crime that you can't afford to buy a home when you refuse to move out of arguably one of the most expensive cities in the country. It's equivalent to crying about not being in the 1% when you're in the top 1.5%, and you could move if you wanted to. There's nothing wrong with wanting to live in San Francisco, but expecting to buy a home a few years after graduating from college is ridiculous in my opinion.
  - CydeWeys 6y ago
    > but it seems very disingenuous to say that it's a crime that you can't afford to buy a home It's also very disingenuous to misrepresent other people's statements like this. Literally no one is saying it's a crime.

by vertis 6y ago

CydeWeys 6y ago

Rochester is definitely cheap, but for a reason: It's a city on the down slope past its peak. It's a deindustrialized rust belt city with a population down 38% from its pre-WWII high. That goes a long way to explain why housing is so affordable. And I wonder what the tech job situation is like there (though that may matter less now, what with the pandemic increasing the acceptability of WFH). It's hard to move somewhere for cheap housing where you literally wouldn't know a single person, though. Social life is important. Also, there's the winter weather. I hope you like cold and snow.

pc86 6y ago
> It's hard to move somewhere for cheap housing where you literally wouldn't know a single person, though. Social life is important. And this is fine, but it seems very disingenuous to say that it's a crime that you can't afford to buy a home when you refuse to move out of arguably one of the most expensive cities in the country. It's equivalent to crying about not being in the 1% when you're in the top 1.5%, and you could move if you wanted to. There's nothing wrong with wanting to live in San Francisco, but expecting to buy a home a few years after graduating from college is ridiculous in my opinion.
- CydeWeys 6y ago
  > but it seems very disingenuous to say that it's a crime that you can't afford to buy a home It's also very disingenuous to misrepresent other people's statements like this. Literally no one is saying it's a crime.