3 ms·

"your new home is worth less than what you paid for it and after you've finished paying off your mortgage in 40 years, it is worth almost nothing" Isn't this a

by k__ 4y ago

"your new home is worth less than what you paid for it and after you've finished paying off your mortgage in 40 years, it is worth almost nothing" Isn't this a good thing?

deergomoo 4y ago
Yeah, my first thought on the article opening with that was “wow, exactly how it should work then?” I’ve always found the idea of property as an investment to be deeply entitled. IMO there is no morally justifiable reason why the price of housing in many western nations has skyrocketed over the past several decades, we’ve just artificially constrained supply by failing to build enough houses to match demand. Now more than ever it’s having a crippling effect on so many folks’ ability to lead a comfortable and happy life.
- anon291 4y ago
  Perhaps we should just let people who want to build a house for their family go and do so. Have you ever attempted such a thing? In the past, it was easy. You bought wood and some nails and started. Today, it involves more trips to city hall than the hardware store, unfortunately.
Seb-C 4y ago
Not only it's a good thing, but it's bad faith anyway because it's not telling the whole story. Houses are seen as pretty-much worthless overall, and many people would decide to destroy and build a new house rather than fix and maintain a 20 years-old one. There are many reasons to this, both cultural and practical. The good consequence is that the prices here are relatively stable and does not inflate like in the west. It is possible to buy an individual house in Tokyo for the average resident, you don't need to be rich. But the elephant in the room that the article forgets to tell is that while houses become worthless quickly, land does not. When you buy a property, about 80% of it's price is the value of the land itself, not the house. And while it can fluctuate depending on the area and it's surroundings, it does not degrade much over time.
- midoridensha 4y ago
  The other factor is that old houses are downright unsafe. This is a place that regularly experiences earthquakes, sometimes big ones, and construction standards have improved over time after learning lessons from bad earthquakes and with improved technology. So no one wants to live in a 50-year-old building that's likely to collapse when the next big earthquake happens if they can help it, and so buildings tend to be demolished more frequently and replaced with newer ones.

by k__ 4y ago

"your new home is worth less than what you paid for it and after you've finished paying off your mortgage in 40 years, it is worth almost nothing" Isn't this a good thing?

deergomoo 4y ago

Yeah, my first thought on the article opening with that was “wow, exactly how it should work then?” I’ve always found the idea of property as an investment to be deeply entitled. IMO there is no morally justifiable reason why the price of housing in many western nations has skyrocketed over the past several decades, we’ve just artificially constrained supply by failing to build enough houses to match demand. Now more than ever it’s having a crippling effect on so many folks’ ability to lead a comfortable and happy life.

anon291 4y ago
Perhaps we should just let people who want to build a house for their family go and do so. Have you ever attempted such a thing? In the past, it was easy. You bought wood and some nails and started. Today, it involves more trips to city hall than the hardware store, unfortunately.

Seb-C 4y ago

Not only it's a good thing, but it's bad faith anyway because it's not telling the whole story. Houses are seen as pretty-much worthless overall, and many people would decide to destroy and build a new house rather than fix and maintain a 20 years-old one. There are many reasons to this, both cultural and practical. The good consequence is that the prices here are relatively stable and does not inflate like in the west. It is possible to buy an individual house in Tokyo for the average resident, you don't need to be rich. But the elephant in the room that the article forgets to tell is that while houses become worthless quickly, land does not. When you buy a property, about 80% of it's price is the value of the land itself, not the house. And while it can fluctuate depending on the area and it's surroundings, it does not degrade much over time.

midoridensha 4y ago
The other factor is that old houses are downright unsafe. This is a place that regularly experiences earthquakes, sometimes big ones, and construction standards have improved over time after learning lessons from bad earthquakes and with improved technology. So no one wants to live in a 50-year-old building that's likely to collapse when the next big earthquake happens if they can help it, and so buildings tend to be demolished more frequently and replaced with newer ones.