5 ms·

Real estate is an outlier in your examples due to there being limited supply and people need shelter.

• martincmartin 4y ago
  During the GFC of 2008, real estate values went down, despite the factors you mention.
  • lupire 4y ago
  • vecinu 4y ago
    Some markets were less impacted than others, San Diego for example went down a mere 20% at the trough. Over a longer timeline, housing has appreciated by hundreds of percentage points in SD.
• jsemrau 4y ago
  WeWork was only possible because of 2008. This wouldn't have worked on that scale anywhere else.
• IncRnd 4y ago
  > due to there being limited supply and people need Just like a commodity.
• JumpCrisscross 4y ago
  > Real estate is an outlier in your examples due to there being limited supply and people need shelter People need lots of things. The principal constraints on real estate are political. (The entire concept of real estate is a social construct.) Not physical space.
  • andsoitis 4y ago
    > People need lots of things. The principal constraints on real estate are political. (The entire concept of real estate is a social construct.) Not physical space. Even if (the amount of) physical space isn't one of the main constraints on real estate, any particular location may be more desirable relative to others, e.g. a gorgeous view, away from factories or highways.
    • gruez 4y ago
      Nah, it's social constructs all the way down. A location might have gorgeous views, but if it's in a rural area and urbanization intensifies (think pre-pandemic), it will left in the dust as jobs and businesses dry up. Same goes if it's in downtown and it gets hollowed out (eg. white flight).
      • motohagiography 4y ago
        Do animals have social constructs? Because they have dens and territory that they use to survive as well. Property is a pretty universal value.
        • JumpCrisscross 4y ago
          > they have dens and territory that they use to survive as well A bear's den isn't its property any more than a park bench slept on becomes the slumberer's own. Property, specifically, the system that relates a person to some land via a bundle of use rights, is a deep human construct. It likely goes back to the dawn of agriculture and civilization [1]. [1] https://books.google.com/books?id=f_roIy7ceEsC https://books.google.com/books?id=f_roIy7ceEsC
          • yellowapple 4y ago
            > A bear's den isn't its property any more than a park bench slept on becomes the slumberer's own. A bear, however, will use (and indeed seek to monopolize) violence to defend its den. That makes it property, at least until the bear relinquishes its claim (or something - or someone - else challenges its monopoly on violence).
            • JumpCrisscross 4y ago
              > bear, however, will use (and indeed seek to monopolize) violence to defend its den. That makes it property That makes it territory. The simplest definition of property might be use rights one doesn’t need to use violence to defend. (Countries don’t have property.)
  • cf-d-ycom 4y ago
    Is not also the "idea of a social construct" a social construct? And by extension is also arbitrary and meaningless? And surely then every idea of any category is dissolved as meaningless and arbitrary, and then reason itself is absurd?
    • labrador 4y ago
      When you then see yourself as a social construct, then you are on the path to enlightenment
      • deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
    • jcbrand 4y ago
      Just because something is a social construct does not mean it's arbitrary and meaningless. Social constructs have developed over time under evolutionary pressure. Useless or damaging constructs eventually disappear since they contribute negatively towards survival. The constructs that remain have demonstrated a certain level of fitness towards the environment.
      • danaris 4y ago
        ...but it's important not to assume that just because a particular social construct is still in use today, it's "fit" to remain for the foreseeable future.
        • jcbrand 4y ago
          Sure. Social constructs likely follow the Lindy effect. The longer one exists, the longer it can be expected to continue to exist. Old constructs have proven their fitness simply by persisting over a long period time. I think it's easier to make the mistake the other way around, to wrongly assume that a relatively new social construct will remain "fit" far into the future.
    • im3w1l 4y ago
• HFguy 4y ago
  Regarding real estate, there have been plenty of examples. See Japan in the 80s as prime example.
• bshipp 4y ago
  Most bubbles start based on some fundamental value rationale. For real estate, the ebb and flow of supply and demand are what sparks the initial price increase. A bubble occurs when speculators pile into that investment vehicle and drive up demand even further. This becomes a reinforcing phenomenon until the number of new speculators dries up and it suddenly whipsaws the other way. Nothing is immune from a bubble, but housing is particularly prone to it based on the lag between demand and available supply. It also means the hangover is often decades long while it clears the backlog. Yes, people need houses. But people don't need 4 or 5 houses as speculative investment vehicles that "pay for themselves" by renting out while they hold it for a couple years before flipping. That's the demand that crashes hard when markets turn.