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>the current high-interest-rate This current level of interest rates was the norm before the money printing bonanza of 2010-2022. Only that ~decade of ultra lo

>the current high-interest-rate This current level of interest rates was the norm before the money printing bonanza of 2010-2022. Only that ~decade of ultra low rates was the exception not the norm. And yet housing was still being built back then. So what gives? From what I saw from that last decade, ultra cheap rates for too long just leads to a bunch of speculation bubbles as everyone and his dog goes into debt as much as they can and inflating everything.

cj 3y ago
In my area of the US, you have to move mountains in order to get a plumber, electrician, carpenter, etc to show up. To get work done on my house, it involves leaving messages with at least 10 people, getting callbacks from maybe 1-2, and hoping to god the person actually shows up (when they do show up, it's probably a month after the first call). (Private equity is capitalizing on this by buying out local plumbing/electrician/hvac companies to merge them into full service companies with a call center, CRM for customers, tech-enabled scheduling and dispatch systems... which is all good, except they charge 2-3x higher rates compared to your local plumber... so the option is <call PE-owned plumbing company and pay 2-3x the price to have someone show up tomorrow> or <call 10 local plumbers and pray that 1 of them calls you back and actually shows up>) I imagine house builders and contractors have more reliable networks of workers to draw on compared to the average homeowner. But maybe the availability of workers to build a house isn't what it used to be?
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  >you have to move mountains in order to get a plumber, electrician, carpenter, etc to show up. Watch the latest South Park episode: https://youtu.be/RcoGzT9QrTI?si=m95_pQ9H203hcfuW https://youtu.be/RcoGzT9QrTI?si=m95_pQ9H203hcfuW
- anon84873628 3y ago
  This seems to be the real bottle neck in the housing supply chain, and why prices are so high. Simple fact is that there aren't enough skilled people to actually build the houses.
  - BobaFloutist 3y ago
    Possibly partially because they can't afford to live near where people most desperately want houses built.
SoftTalker 3y ago
And why do rates matter to Google, they can pay cash.
greenie_beans 3y ago
we didn't build enough housing during zero interest rates, why do you think we'll make up the deficit with higher interest rates?
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  Where did I claim that? I only asked how come we managed to build housing before the 2008 crash when the interest rates where like today.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]

cj 3y ago

In my area of the US, you have to move mountains in order to get a plumber, electrician, carpenter, etc to show up. To get work done on my house, it involves leaving messages with at least 10 people, getting callbacks from maybe 1-2, and hoping to god the person actually shows up (when they do show up, it's probably a month after the first call). (Private equity is capitalizing on this by buying out local plumbing/electrician/hvac companies to merge them into full service companies with a call center, CRM for customers, tech-enabled scheduling and dispatch systems... which is all good, except they charge 2-3x higher rates compared to your local plumber... so the option is <call PE-owned plumbing company and pay 2-3x the price to have someone show up tomorrow> or <call 10 local plumbers and pray that 1 of them calls you back and actually shows up>) I imagine house builders and contractors have more reliable networks of workers to draw on compared to the average homeowner. But maybe the availability of workers to build a house isn't what it used to be?

FirmwareBurner 3y ago
>you have to move mountains in order to get a plumber, electrician, carpenter, etc to show up. Watch the latest South Park episode: https://youtu.be/RcoGzT9QrTI?si=m95_pQ9H203hcfuW https://youtu.be/RcoGzT9QrTI?si=m95_pQ9H203hcfuW
anon84873628 3y ago
This seems to be the real bottle neck in the housing supply chain, and why prices are so high. Simple fact is that there aren't enough skilled people to actually build the houses.
- BobaFloutist 3y ago
  Possibly partially because they can't afford to live near where people most desperately want houses built.

SoftTalker 3y ago

And why do rates matter to Google, they can pay cash.

greenie_beans 3y ago

we didn't build enough housing during zero interest rates, why do you think we'll make up the deficit with higher interest rates?

FirmwareBurner 3y ago
Where did I claim that? I only asked how come we managed to build housing before the 2008 crash when the interest rates where like today.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]