5 ms·

I’ve literally seen this same exact comment many, many times except with different locations. Eastern Mass, New York, Ontario, Britain, and even starting to hea

I’ve literally seen this same exact comment many, many times except with different locations. Eastern Mass, New York, Ontario, Britain, and even starting to hear it from suburban areas. The exact same concepts: cheap grandfathered lease, hoping the landlord doesn’t cancel, can’t afford rent despite making >100k, “luxury apartments”, empty apartments, illegal renting (e.g. AirBnB) and shadiness.

ricardobayes 4y ago
I wonder how many more software unicorns will we produce that start out promising but end up (possibly) being net-negative on the society as a whole?
personalidea 4y ago
Germany is working to make its spot on the list. At least in the cities.
- raverbashing 4y ago
  Given that rental laws in Germany can't even be broken if you buy a property for your own use ("in theory" yes but in practice...) it is not surprising why the traditional rental market is the last place someone will want to have their property Tenant protection is good, but it breaks down in high-demand situations. And of course the better solution is to solve this on the supply side
  - jamil7 4y ago
    I don’t agree that tenant protection and increased supply are comparable solutions that can be swapped out. Ideally you’d have both.
  - llampx 4y ago
    Meanwhile it is incredibly hard to build up or out in most German cities and towns due to lack of permits. Why aren't Baugenehmigungen given out? Well, landowners vote. Also, most politicians are landowners. Lack of housing suits most people in power perfectly well. They get to control the populace through sops like the aborted rent control law Mietendeckel.
kitten_mittens_ 4y ago
You leave out Western Mass though.
saiya-jin 4y ago
Practically every single capital is like that these days. People of all nations can copy paste same rant and it would be 100% valid. This is how it is, too much buying power with new generation of higher level office workers compared to blue collar ones, on top of financial speculation with either prices skyrocketing, or airbnbs. Let's not forget there is more and more of people in general, and more and more coming for work, education etc. to bigger places and rarely going back. Or to put it in reverse - I am not aware of any metropolis/capital where this isn't true, regardless of regime.
- MattGaiser 4y ago
  I would argue the Canadian one of Ottawa. Ottawa isn't cheap, but it is not anywhere near Toronto or Vancouver.
  - mcspiff 4y ago
    Right, it really should say anchor cities and not capital IMO. Those may coincide sometimes, but not always.
    - moistly 4y ago
      More than just anchor cities. I live in a town of 60k. Cheapest homes less than fifty years old are all C$600K and sharply upward. There are many multi-million dollar properties. It is insanity.
- epolanski 4y ago
  I don't think I've ever heard the absurd levels of this blog post and I've lived in few expensive cities from italy, poland and switzerland, where it is impossible for middle class locals to live there.
  - imsaw 4y ago
    Compared with the 2, how is Poland expensive?
dionidium 4y ago
The underlying issue is that demand for these places has increased in our new globally-connected world. That's not going away. Cute little lake houses aren't going to be a local secret anywhere in the world, anymore, and the sooner people realize that, the sooner they can think about how to adjust to it. We are currently in the "denial" phase. We can't get to "acceptance" fast enough.
- fezfight 4y ago
  I think the wealthy are already well beyond the denial phase and that is part of the problem. There might be a global panicked landgrab being undertaken by those who control large amounts of capital. Because if they dont, someone else will.
- gherkinnn 4y ago
  The problem isn’t a lack of “cute little lake houses”. The problem are is a lack of “affordable homes”. Or any home. And adjusting to what exactly? Living in squalor way outside of what you call home because some parasite gets to live in a furnished and unaffordable temp home, payed for by a relocation package?
  - dionidium 4y ago
    If you care at all about convincing others of this point, I think you should know that when you use words like “parasite” to describe people engaging in ordinary economic activity my eyes roll back in my head and I don’t hear anything else you have to say.
- pydry 4y ago
  The underlying issue is wealth inequality. There's a glut of capital chasing returns internationally that grows bigger every year. If 10 people with $1 to spend on an apple, and one person suddenly had $11 you could say demand for apples had "doubled", implying that this the result of an implacable, impersonal, unchangeable force but it absolutely isnt.
  - 4y ago

ricardobayes 4y ago

I wonder how many more software unicorns will we produce that start out promising but end up (possibly) being net-negative on the society as a whole?

personalidea 4y ago

Germany is working to make its spot on the list. At least in the cities.

raverbashing 4y ago
Given that rental laws in Germany can't even be broken if you buy a property for your own use ("in theory" yes but in practice...) it is not surprising why the traditional rental market is the last place someone will want to have their property Tenant protection is good, but it breaks down in high-demand situations. And of course the better solution is to solve this on the supply side
- jamil7 4y ago
  I don’t agree that tenant protection and increased supply are comparable solutions that can be swapped out. Ideally you’d have both.
- llampx 4y ago
  Meanwhile it is incredibly hard to build up or out in most German cities and towns due to lack of permits. Why aren't Baugenehmigungen given out? Well, landowners vote. Also, most politicians are landowners. Lack of housing suits most people in power perfectly well. They get to control the populace through sops like the aborted rent control law Mietendeckel.

kitten_mittens_ 4y ago

You leave out Western Mass though.

saiya-jin 4y ago

Practically every single capital is like that these days. People of all nations can copy paste same rant and it would be 100% valid. This is how it is, too much buying power with new generation of higher level office workers compared to blue collar ones, on top of financial speculation with either prices skyrocketing, or airbnbs. Let's not forget there is more and more of people in general, and more and more coming for work, education etc. to bigger places and rarely going back. Or to put it in reverse - I am not aware of any metropolis/capital where this isn't true, regardless of regime.

MattGaiser 4y ago
I would argue the Canadian one of Ottawa. Ottawa isn't cheap, but it is not anywhere near Toronto or Vancouver.
- mcspiff 4y ago
  Right, it really should say anchor cities and not capital IMO. Those may coincide sometimes, but not always.
  - moistly 4y ago
    More than just anchor cities. I live in a town of 60k. Cheapest homes less than fifty years old are all C$600K and sharply upward. There are many multi-million dollar properties. It is insanity.
epolanski 4y ago
I don't think I've ever heard the absurd levels of this blog post and I've lived in few expensive cities from italy, poland and switzerland, where it is impossible for middle class locals to live there.
- imsaw 4y ago
  Compared with the 2, how is Poland expensive?

dionidium 4y ago

The underlying issue is that demand for these places has increased in our new globally-connected world. That's not going away. Cute little lake houses aren't going to be a local secret anywhere in the world, anymore, and the sooner people realize that, the sooner they can think about how to adjust to it. We are currently in the "denial" phase. We can't get to "acceptance" fast enough.

fezfight 4y ago
I think the wealthy are already well beyond the denial phase and that is part of the problem. There might be a global panicked landgrab being undertaken by those who control large amounts of capital. Because if they dont, someone else will.
gherkinnn 4y ago
The problem isn’t a lack of “cute little lake houses”. The problem are is a lack of “affordable homes”. Or any home. And adjusting to what exactly? Living in squalor way outside of what you call home because some parasite gets to live in a furnished and unaffordable temp home, payed for by a relocation package?
- dionidium 4y ago
  If you care at all about convincing others of this point, I think you should know that when you use words like “parasite” to describe people engaging in ordinary economic activity my eyes roll back in my head and I don’t hear anything else you have to say.
pydry 4y ago
The underlying issue is wealth inequality. There's a glut of capital chasing returns internationally that grows bigger every year. If 10 people with $1 to spend on an apple, and one person suddenly had $11 you could say demand for apples had "doubled", implying that this the result of an implacable, impersonal, unchangeable force but it absolutely isnt.
- 4y ago