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I feel really bad for GenZ. My brother and sister and law are both in their early 20s (large age gap with my wife) and the housing market is a tire fire. I rece

I feel really bad for GenZ. My brother and sister and law are both in their early 20s (large age gap with my wife) and the housing market is a tire fire. I recently learned that the house across from us is being rented to three young women for $3,000/month. This is a 1,100 square foot cottage, built maybe in the 1970s, with a leaky roof and no basement in exurban Maryland. For comparison, our mortgage is around $2,000/month for a house three times the size, built in the 2000s, on a riverfront lot. And we're not boomers, we just bought the place in late 2016! It's a kinda dumpy neighborhood with a lot of better-off blue collar workers (cops, nurses, etc) and retirees. But prices doubled seemingly overnight during the pandemic! It's not like there's an employment boom happening here. We're right outside of Annapolis, which is a small city focused on the Naval Academy. Which is stable but hardly growing employment. A couple of the anchor employers (AT&T, Rockwell Collins) have been downsizing. We're an hour away from DC, and 45 minutes from Baltimore. Where the heck do these people work? Where is all the money coming from? It doesn't make any sense.

dgfitz 1y ago
Ft. Meade is a big employer in that area, Raytheon as well. Northrop Grumman is commutable from there, as is Annapolis junction and Columbia. Baltimore and DC can be commuted to from that area. DC would be rough if you don’t take the metro from somewhere. Not a great drive but I know a lot of people who did/do it. I live north east of the Baltimore beltway and recently started a new job between BWI and Arundel Mills, about an hour with no traffic, but I work remotely half the week. There are an absolute ton of jobs in your area. It’s much more sparse north of 695. Basically APG.
- rayiner 1y ago
  I understand there’s jobs, but what’s causing the rapid growth in housing prices? Fort Meade has been here forever, and so have the defense contractors. It’s not like federal government or contractor salaries and headcount have been growing rapidly. And it’s not population growth. Columbia grew just 5% from 2010-2020. Anne Arundel has grown less than 1% annually for more than two decades.
  - dgfitz 1y ago
    I think the short answer is: interest rates. No?
    - rayiner 1y ago
      Shouldn’t rising interest rates drive home prices down?
      - dgfitz 1y ago
        No. If someone thinks their home is worth 500k, they’re going to sell it for 500k. The rate just affects how much you give the bank in interest instead of principal.
socalgal2 1y ago
https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/first-time-home-buyers-shrink-to-historic-low-of-24-as-buyer-age-hits-record-high https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/first-time-home-buyers-shri... IIUC the age of the mean home buyer is 56! (T_T)
assword 1y ago
As> Where the heck do these people work? Where is all the money coming from? It doesn't make any sense. I moved from Florida to a small rust belt city after being out of work for an extended time. I desperately had tried to avoid moving, but honestly I was pretty enamored by the idea of low rent I have been thoroughly disappointed. Especially seeing the rates people are trying to rent fucking shared rooms for. I don’t get it though. A lot of these apartments are far beyond average wages. Even if I could afford it, So had the same question as you. Who the hell is living in these. I certainly know many who could afford to, but they have much better options. If I can pay $2000 a month to live in a rotting rust belt city, I can probably afford to go somewhere much nicer with a much better market at the same price. I asked my girlfriend about it, as she’s lived here her whole life and she expressed that the only person she know who’s lived at one of these apartments was an ex who was a trust fund baby. But there cant be enough of them that they’re tilting the market.

dgfitz 1y ago

Ft. Meade is a big employer in that area, Raytheon as well. Northrop Grumman is commutable from there, as is Annapolis junction and Columbia. Baltimore and DC can be commuted to from that area. DC would be rough if you don’t take the metro from somewhere. Not a great drive but I know a lot of people who did/do it. I live north east of the Baltimore beltway and recently started a new job between BWI and Arundel Mills, about an hour with no traffic, but I work remotely half the week. There are an absolute ton of jobs in your area. It’s much more sparse north of 695. Basically APG.

rayiner 1y ago
I understand there’s jobs, but what’s causing the rapid growth in housing prices? Fort Meade has been here forever, and so have the defense contractors. It’s not like federal government or contractor salaries and headcount have been growing rapidly. And it’s not population growth. Columbia grew just 5% from 2010-2020. Anne Arundel has grown less than 1% annually for more than two decades.
- dgfitz 1y ago
  I think the short answer is: interest rates. No?
  - rayiner 1y ago
    Shouldn’t rising interest rates drive home prices down?
    - dgfitz 1y ago
      No. If someone thinks their home is worth 500k, they’re going to sell it for 500k. The rate just affects how much you give the bank in interest instead of principal.

socalgal2 1y ago

https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/first-time-home-buyers-shrink-to-historic-low-of-24-as-buyer-age-hits-record-high https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/first-time-home-buyers-shri... IIUC the age of the mean home buyer is 56! (T_T)

assword 1y ago

As> Where the heck do these people work? Where is all the money coming from? It doesn't make any sense. I moved from Florida to a small rust belt city after being out of work for an extended time. I desperately had tried to avoid moving, but honestly I was pretty enamored by the idea of low rent I have been thoroughly disappointed. Especially seeing the rates people are trying to rent fucking shared rooms for. I don’t get it though. A lot of these apartments are far beyond average wages. Even if I could afford it, So had the same question as you. Who the hell is living in these. I certainly know many who could afford to, but they have much better options. If I can pay $2000 a month to live in a rotting rust belt city, I can probably afford to go somewhere much nicer with a much better market at the same price. I asked my girlfriend about it, as she’s lived here her whole life and she expressed that the only person she know who’s lived at one of these apartments was an ex who was a trust fund baby. But there cant be enough of them that they’re tilting the market.