The whole aspect and shift in interest rates over the decades has been a major part in the whole housing market. You had high interest rates, people saved for

The whole aspect and shift in interest rates over the decades has been a major part in the whole housing market. You had high interest rates, people saved for a lifestyle. The shift to lower interest rates has changed all that and shifted towards a a lifestyle today on credit. That shift alone has had much impact upon society - some good, some bad and I'd learn towards the later in more areas than not, though that whole debate can be subjective. So here we are today, with interest rate buffers mostly eaten up and QE left with no more room due to that, the next thing will be negative interest rates. How that will impact the whole housing market will be interesting. But one other aspect about housing. Culture factors do come into play and some countries tend to rent and others tend to buy. Though would need a chart of countries and the rent/ownership to over time to get a better grasp upon that and not aware of anything that shows that at hand. Though a good insight into that at https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental-market/renting-landscape-30-countries-around-world/ https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental-market/renting-landscap... Though with the whole motivation to embrace the digital age with work from home, there will imho be a shift from buying into large cities for the commute and a shift into the countrysides. But then, the best data for that would probably be Amazon and a heatmap of deliveries over time - which would be fascinating to see. But signs to look for would be office towers owners in cities applying for planning permission to convert into residential. Which will be needed if the shift is to save some of the many many city based food outlets/resturants/arts etc that need the volume of people that cities offer and without those numbers, will domino. But many area's have been overdue a reality in prices, New york rental market is the next financial timebomb and all due to how finances are worked out, so if you can have high rent, you can value that place more and mortgage/finance accordingly. Indeed it gets to the stage that the legal finances mean that if you set a high rent, you have to charge that rent as no leeway to charge lower due to the financial contracts in-place and how financed. But many housing/building values have been riding the wave of financial hype as much as supply and demand. So COVID if anything, won't cause any issues, just speed them up and that in itself is the issue as a slow shift more palatable over an almost instant overnight shift. Though even with COVID, the human population still grows and grows, so always that aspect for the whole supply and demand factor.