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I think a lot does boil down to generational differences in real estate entry prices. Sometimes I think millennials fell into a trap following GenX back to urb

I think a lot does boil down to generational differences in real estate entry prices. Sometimes I think millennials fell into a trap following GenX back to urban living, but missed out on the sweet spot late 90s/early 00s where cities were attractive but also cheap. I worked with guys 10 years older than me who bought apartments at 1/5 the prices my generation saw, but had starting salaries more than 1/2 of what ours were.

pessimizer 2y ago
> Sometimes I think millennials fell into a trap following GenX back to urban living You should be more specific, because the cities were always inhabited. Which millennials are you talking about?
- steveBK123 2y ago
  For example in NYC, population peaked in 1950s around 8M, went down to 7M by the 80s. Losing 12% of your population can make housing pretty affordable. Population started increasing in the 90s, re-crossing 8M around 2000... and ~9M today. If one wants to be really pedantic, a lot of that growth was in outer boroughs that were relatively sparse in the early/mid 1900s. Manhattan is still below its peak population of ~2.3M in the early 1900s. Fortunately we don't have overcrowded tenement housing anymore. Manhattan population was about 2M in 1950 and bottomed around 1.4M in 1980s.. so a 30% draw, and is now at about 1.7M.