4 ms·

I try to remind people in the US that there’s exactly one constituency that wants affordable houses. People who don’t have houses yet. Everybody else wants ho

I try to remind people in the US that there’s exactly one constituency that wants affordable houses. People who don’t have houses yet. Everybody else wants housing to continue to be a growth investment, and thus increasingly unaffordable. Developers want to make & sell more expensive things. Lenders want to make more & bigger loans. Existing owners want the value of their most valuable asset to go “up & to the right”. That’s a very big hurdle to overcome politically. Even worse in the US where real estate investments are a central pillar of the broader economy, and if the “growth investment” patina of it starts to fade, then a cascading catastrophe will likely follow. The situation might be untenable as prices keep going up, but there are so many incentives working against any kind of intervention, that I never expect one to occur.

VirusNewbie 4y ago
If someone owns a condo and wants to buy a mansion, does it make sense for them to hope all real estate appreciates in price vs depreciates?
- im_down_w_otp 4y ago
  If they want to maximize the sale price of their condo? Yes. They’ll just have to relocate to a different housing market to buy that mansion. You just described every Californian who upsized by moving out of state. They definitely wanted their condo, bungalow, or shack to get top dollar in their market.
maeil 4y ago
> Everybody else wants housing to continue to be a growth investment Acting like non-NIMBYs don't exist is harmful and does a massive disservice to them. They do exist and they need to be praised instead of ignored.
prawn 4y ago
I agree with the generalisation, but as a homeowner in another Western country, I'm unsettled by the "up & to the right": creates a less affordable environment for my children, and leads to a less stable place to live. I'd guess you generally get a safer community with more people invested in it and fewer people in desperate situations. Further, affordable housing (as in, literally affordable, and not under some means-tested scheme) means more opportunities for me to buy further properties.

VirusNewbie 4y ago

If someone owns a condo and wants to buy a mansion, does it make sense for them to hope all real estate appreciates in price vs depreciates?

im_down_w_otp 4y ago
If they want to maximize the sale price of their condo? Yes. They’ll just have to relocate to a different housing market to buy that mansion. You just described every Californian who upsized by moving out of state. They definitely wanted their condo, bungalow, or shack to get top dollar in their market.

maeil 4y ago

> Everybody else wants housing to continue to be a growth investment Acting like non-NIMBYs don't exist is harmful and does a massive disservice to them. They do exist and they need to be praised instead of ignored.

prawn 4y ago

I agree with the generalisation, but as a homeowner in another Western country, I'm unsettled by the "up & to the right": creates a less affordable environment for my children, and leads to a less stable place to live. I'd guess you generally get a safer community with more people invested in it and fewer people in desperate situations. Further, affordable housing (as in, literally affordable, and not under some means-tested scheme) means more opportunities for me to buy further properties.