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Re: "Seriously, start building more houses."
@nikhotmsk If you really want people here to seriously debate this, maybe present some arguments for and against?
Feb 06 Ā· 7 months ago
š¤ nikhotmsk [OP] Ā· 2024-02-06 at 17:57:
I have a hypothesis that the cost of renting a house depends on supply. This is true for any consumer good, you produce more, the price goes down. Something is blocking supply of new houses in Unated States, thus no one can afford a home anymore. This is generally a bad thing. But you can fix it by building a lot of affordable housing.
There is a video about this, which explain why it is so important. /
The author may sound a bit explicit (always was), but give him some credit. It is the most comprehensive video i know on a subject.
š satch Ā· 2024-02-06 at 18:25:
I haven't watched the video so I am not responding to it; I am sure he makes some good points. But I would like to enter into discussion that the price of housing is kept artificially high by banks who want consumers to have collateral to borrow against.
This means that the housing which is currently built (there are lots of new homes in the US which were built in the past several years and have never been inhabited) cannot be sold for afforable prices as that would lower the cost of housing across the board and hurt the borrowing (and therefore spending) power of consumers, which would really hurt banks and the whole economy.
š satch Ā· 2024-02-06 at 18:33:
That's part of why we have a homeless population: if there was housing afforable enough for really poor people then more people might choose to live modestly and spend less on housing, which would bring down the prices of housing across the board and banks can't have that. I might be getting the details wrong but that's my general understanding of the situation.
The mechanism by which banks keep housing prices artificially inflated is by letting people take out large loans. If the bank gives everyone big loans, then they can all bid higher on the house and are all incentivized to do so to get the best house possible.
š¤ nikhotmsk [OP] Ā· 2024-02-06 at 20:36:
Sounds like a fraud.
š Steve_Dracula Ā· 2024-02-07 at 03:10:
Most things are.
š¤ jdcard Ā· 2024-02-07 at 13:58:
Show me the data! We have claims about "not enough" or "lots of" but no numbers to work with.
š satch Ā· 2024-02-07 at 14:17:
@jcard Iām just sharing ideas, not trying to prove anything. Other people have done that who are better qualified. This type of data is not so hard to find online these days!
š¤ nikhotmsk [OP] Ā· 2024-02-09 at 13:11:
@jdcard I cant tell the exact numbers. The price compared to average income is probably a good indirect measure. Also, if the price changes over time more then 200 percent, it shows something wrong.
ā Price change to population change chart
There is a fix, building more affordable houses, abolish regulations, look how other places have the same issue fixed. It is important because it directly affects quality of life.
Seriously, start building more houses.
