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I'm looking out the window of my real estate office toward a neighborhood a lot like what you are describing - except our median income is abut $20K less and we

I'm looking out the window of my real estate office toward a neighborhood a lot like what you are describing - except our median income is abut $20K less and we aren't in the midwest. Those houses here would be within the same range you are talking about, and it's just basic supply+demand, plus the replacement cost. What does that same house cost today to build? It may not seem fair, but that's why even the "affordable" suburban tract housing in my area starts in the high-300s.

lenerdenator 3y ago
I wouldn't describe it as a matter of fairness, thinking deeper about it. We're really just mortgaging quarterly earnings for those with major residential real estate holdings (like pension funds paying out to those born during the Baby Boom) with future economic growth at this point. When asked if they'd rather have sustainable growth that will see them able to put food on their tables 20 years from now or make the line go up over the next 90 days, capital has chosen the latter. That _will_ have a consequence down the line, and it won't be a good one.
- starttoaster 3y ago
  The other user brought up that the cost to build a home has gone up substantially, and this response seems more like an addendum onto what you were already saying rather than a response to that. Just fyi. I think there is inherent truth to what you're saying as well, in that business decisions more often than not seem driven by the dangling carrot of short term profits. But there can be a multitude of reasons why the cost of a house is just out of reach to what we used to consider the "average middle class American."
  - lenerdenator 3y ago
    What builders/bankers want to build costs more. A 3br/2ba/2ga split-level isn't as profitable as, say, an upper-middle-class McMansion.
- poulsbohemian 3y ago
  Ah, I think I get you now - you are talking more about issues of wealth or opportunity inequality, IE: structural problems, where perhaps the housing is really a symptom as much as a cause. It's a rubber-hits-the-road view of what's happening overall.
danaris 3y ago
Ultimately, while it is certainly a problem that housing is this expensive, the deeper, more structural problem is that incomes are still this low. It's been 40 years now since incomes started stagnating compared to productivity; anyone who thinks this wasn't going to have serious negative effects on society and the economy had really better wake up, because we're already seeing those effects.
- poulsbohemian 3y ago
  Amen dude - can't agree more. Wish more communities were paying attention to this as a component of their housing issue.

lenerdenator 3y ago

I wouldn't describe it as a matter of fairness, thinking deeper about it. We're really just mortgaging quarterly earnings for those with major residential real estate holdings (like pension funds paying out to those born during the Baby Boom) with future economic growth at this point. When asked if they'd rather have sustainable growth that will see them able to put food on their tables 20 years from now or make the line go up over the next 90 days, capital has chosen the latter. That _will_ have a consequence down the line, and it won't be a good one.

starttoaster 3y ago
The other user brought up that the cost to build a home has gone up substantially, and this response seems more like an addendum onto what you were already saying rather than a response to that. Just fyi. I think there is inherent truth to what you're saying as well, in that business decisions more often than not seem driven by the dangling carrot of short term profits. But there can be a multitude of reasons why the cost of a house is just out of reach to what we used to consider the "average middle class American."
- lenerdenator 3y ago
  What builders/bankers want to build costs more. A 3br/2ba/2ga split-level isn't as profitable as, say, an upper-middle-class McMansion.
poulsbohemian 3y ago
Ah, I think I get you now - you are talking more about issues of wealth or opportunity inequality, IE: structural problems, where perhaps the housing is really a symptom as much as a cause. It's a rubber-hits-the-road view of what's happening overall.

danaris 3y ago

Ultimately, while it is certainly a problem that housing is this expensive, the deeper, more structural problem is that incomes are still this low. It's been 40 years now since incomes started stagnating compared to productivity; anyone who thinks this wasn't going to have serious negative effects on society and the economy had really better wake up, because we're already seeing those effects.

poulsbohemian 3y ago
Amen dude - can't agree more. Wish more communities were paying attention to this as a component of their housing issue.