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Also taxes. The housing bubble is a choice that voters make because voting demographics skew towards property owners. 1031 exchange Mortgage interest deductio

by rcpt 4y ago

Also taxes. The housing bubble is a choice that voters make because voting demographics skew towards property owners. 1031 exchange Mortgage interest deduction Opportunity zones Taxpayer backing of Fannie and Freddie (allows insane leverage and eliminates interest rate risk for borrowers) Lack of any federal property/land tax Historical precedent that the government will bail out property owners in times of financial uncertainty Countless local tax cuts (Prop 13 etc)

pjc50 4y ago
I note these are mostly US-specific reasons, but the property bubble has been a thing all over the world both now and pre-2008. It's a phenomenon of popular cities everywhere.
- gruez 4y ago
  Those specific reasons might be US-specific, but other countries have other policies to favor home ownership for the same reason (ie. "voting demographics skew towards property owners"). For instance, it's pretty common in other countries to have capital gains exemption on houses.
  - rcpt 4y ago
    Ah capital gains exemptions. I knew I was forgetting something!
  - rightbyte 4y ago
    > other countries have other policies to favor home ownership You make it sound like a bad thing? Policies should favor the people. There are policies that favor renting flats too. I believe the problem is not "making it a good deal to own your home". That should be the default anyway.
- rcpt 4y ago
  Whichever nation you live in likely has similar crap. In China for example there's no property taxes and you can't send your kids to public schools unless you own property.
  - NoToP 4y ago
    China is a weird case where there is no property ownership per se, and all the property owners were sent to the fields, yet a generation later everyone is acting as if their 70 year lease is literally the same thing as property and entails the same rights of inheritance and so forth.
    - rcpt 4y ago
      I mean, the government kind of mandates property investment over there.

by rcpt 4y ago

pjc50 4y ago

I note these are mostly US-specific reasons, but the property bubble has been a thing all over the world both now and pre-2008. It's a phenomenon of popular cities everywhere.

gruez 4y ago
Those specific reasons might be US-specific, but other countries have other policies to favor home ownership for the same reason (ie. "voting demographics skew towards property owners"). For instance, it's pretty common in other countries to have capital gains exemption on houses.
- rcpt 4y ago
  Ah capital gains exemptions. I knew I was forgetting something!
- rightbyte 4y ago
  > other countries have other policies to favor home ownership You make it sound like a bad thing? Policies should favor the people. There are policies that favor renting flats too. I believe the problem is not "making it a good deal to own your home". That should be the default anyway.
rcpt 4y ago
Whichever nation you live in likely has similar crap. In China for example there's no property taxes and you can't send your kids to public schools unless you own property.
- NoToP 4y ago
  China is a weird case where there is no property ownership per se, and all the property owners were sent to the fields, yet a generation later everyone is acting as if their 70 year lease is literally the same thing as property and entails the same rights of inheritance and so forth.
  - rcpt 4y ago
    I mean, the government kind of mandates property investment over there.