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> When populations are half what they are now, housing will likely be cheaper I thought like this, but pondering a bit, climate change and associated sea level
by Qem 2y ago
> When populations are half what they are now, housing will likely be cheaper
I thought like this, but pondering a bit, climate change and associated sea level rise will probably destroy many coastal properties where a lot of people live today, so I suspect this alone will delay housing affordability return for at least one generation. See https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/28/coastal-communities-face-catastrophic-flooding-from-rising-sea-levels https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/28/coastal-communities...
- NoMoreNicksLeft 2y agoWhen populations are half what they are now, housing will be much lower than half the capacity of what it is now. Housing requires constant expensive maintenance (as anyone with a house will quickly point out), but when population is half what it is now it won't be a random sampling of our current population. It will overwhelmingly be geriatric and unable to perform the maintenance that keeps houses from crumbling into the ground. Nothing about a shrinking population makes for a strong economy.
- adamc 2y agoNah. It will happen gradually and the existence of older housing that is still viable if not work-free will reduce the costs. Older people will for sure be spending some saved wealth on this, and worker wages will go up.
- adamc 2y agoWell, that's a separate issue. Even if true, it will make the situation less bad than it otherwise would be. But disasters don't usually make things that bad in the longer term -- the big effect is that it forces us to spend money, which tends to improve the economy, at a cost to stored wealth.