4 ms·

we also have record amount spent on travel, online purchases, and all sorts of non essentials. People are buying homes that have gone up by over 2x in the last

we also have record amount spent on travel, online purchases, and all sorts of non essentials. People are buying homes that have gone up by over 2x in the last 4 years, where monthy costs of their mortgage are like 50% of their total compensation. They didnt need to buy that house, rent is very cheap compared to the cost of homes right now.

autoexec 2y ago
> we also have record amount spent on travel That's heavily skewed by the wealthy. Most Americans can't afford to take a vacation at all. (https://www.newsweek.com/americans-ca-no-longer-afford-vacation-1920045 https://www.newsweek.com/americans-ca-no-longer-afford-vacat...), online purchases are at record highs every year (since 2009) and the overall trend is that online purchases have increased since the early/mid 2000s and that's not expected to change any time soon. > People are buying homes that have gone up by over 2x in the last 4 years Very rich people and investors (including foreign investors) have been buying homes. Foreign investment is slowing down because of the high prices. Current transactions are at "recessionary lows" and "The average home is still unaffordable for most potential buyers" (https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/25/home-price-growth-slows-what-it-means-for-buyers-and-sellers.html https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/25/home-price-growth-slows-what...). Mostly people just aren't buying houses. In 2023 homes sales were at their lowest since the mid 90s (https://www.wsj.com/economy/housing/home-sales-likely-fell-to-15-year-low-in-2023-3da220e1 https://www.wsj.com/economy/housing/home-sales-likely-fell-t... or here (no paywall issues) : https://www.housingwire.com/articles/just-4-09-million-existing-homes-were-sold-in-2023/ https://www.housingwire.com/articles/just-4-09-million-exist...)
- autokad 2y ago
  you keep going on about the rich, as if the rich are having kids: they are having even less.
  - autoexec 2y ago
    You're right about that. The wealthy have pretty much always had fewer kids than everyone else. If only the rich can afford to have kids, we're not going to be getting very many kids.

autoexec 2y ago

> we also have record amount spent on travel That's heavily skewed by the wealthy. Most Americans can't afford to take a vacation at all. (https://www.newsweek.com/americans-ca-no-longer-afford-vacation-1920045 https://www.newsweek.com/americans-ca-no-longer-afford-vacat...), online purchases are at record highs every year (since 2009) and the overall trend is that online purchases have increased since the early/mid 2000s and that's not expected to change any time soon. > People are buying homes that have gone up by over 2x in the last 4 years Very rich people and investors (including foreign investors) have been buying homes. Foreign investment is slowing down because of the high prices. Current transactions are at "recessionary lows" and "The average home is still unaffordable for most potential buyers" (https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/25/home-price-growth-slows-what-it-means-for-buyers-and-sellers.html https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/25/home-price-growth-slows-what...). Mostly people just aren't buying houses. In 2023 homes sales were at their lowest since the mid 90s (https://www.wsj.com/economy/housing/home-sales-likely-fell-to-15-year-low-in-2023-3da220e1 https://www.wsj.com/economy/housing/home-sales-likely-fell-t... or here (no paywall issues) : https://www.housingwire.com/articles/just-4-09-million-existing-homes-were-sold-in-2023/ https://www.housingwire.com/articles/just-4-09-million-exist...)

autokad 2y ago
you keep going on about the rich, as if the rich are having kids: they are having even less.
- autoexec 2y ago
  You're right about that. The wealthy have pretty much always had fewer kids than everyone else. If only the rich can afford to have kids, we're not going to be getting very many kids.