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It varies the same as in the US. In the US, housing in Detroit is very cheap but few people want to live there. In Europe, housing in Bratislava is very cheap b
by hogFeast 5y ago
It varies the same as in the US. In the US, housing in Detroit is very cheap but few people want to live there. In Europe, housing in Bratislava is very cheap but few people want to live there.
The issue with housing is that rates are very low but there are parts of Europe, just like in the US, that have been performing well economically so low rates just pour fuel on the flames (without really helping the parts that aren't doing well). This also applies to some countries, like Denmark, that have pegged their currency to the EUR (I have no idea how the Demark peg is sustainable, it makes no sense, they had strong growth, unemployment below the natural rate/serious supply issues pre-Covid, and negative interest rates...this is not a good idea, because their mortgage market is heavily securitized the impact of this likely won't come out for years i.e. when the people who have invested in the covered bond market come to pay out to retirees, and those people find out they don't have enough to retire ever).
- ptsneves 5y agoBetween Detroit and Bratislava there is not doubt about where I would live. Bratislava is a very beautiful city. Detroit from what I heard has vast swaths of urban area completely abandoned or squatted. I would be surprised if Bratislava also does not have a buble as most central eastern Europe is undergoing strong growth.
- hogFeast 5y agoMost of Eastern Europe is depopulating. Bratislava is nice but Munich or Paris is nicer because you can earn more money there.
- sofixa 5y ago> This also applies to some countries, like Denmark, that have pegged their currency to the EUR (I have no idea how the Demark peg is sustainable, it makes no sense Do they have a choice? I was under the impression that all EU members agree to join the eurozone (without a time limit, so they can just stall forever, like Denmark seems to be doing), and peg their currencies to the euro pending them joining the eurozone.
- hogFeast 5y agoYes, that is correct. I am not 100% sure on this topic but I believe it is Denmark and Sweden, of the Nordics, that signed up in 1992 to Maastricht which would mean eventually joining. But, in both cases, they haven't done so because it isn't popular (Denmark failed a referendum in 2000). And their choice is not to peg to an economic region that is nothing like their own (although tbf, this is true of Germany/Netherlands/Austria/etc. too). The EU is not inevitable. The distortion to financial markets is not worth any political benefit (this has been true of the EU since its inception, first Germany and France were in crisis, then 2008, then debt crisis...what a mess).