The problem is simple: in a perfect society we wouldn’t increase flat prices simply so a landlord can make even more profit. There is no actual, logical reason why the flat should cost 5x as much, only made up ones that basically say “but I wanna!”. There’s no actual 5x increase in costs for the landlord, they pocket most of that additional rent.
Living space isn’t something you should be able to profit this heavily from in a functioning society, as it’s a basic necessity to life. It’s alright that nicer flats cost more but nowadays we value huge additional profits to landlords higher than basic human rights, provocatively spoken.
There is of course the supposed capitalistic reason of doing so, which is to make it more lucrative for others to build additional homes. Additional homes should in turn dampen the prices again. This however hasn’t been panning out the last few decades, as the prices have kept inflating.
In my area those who decide on new building projects own a lot of property, so they of course keep additional homes being build to a minimum to further increase prices of their property… it’s a rigged system, by design.
That would be the case if it was as simple as, ECON 101: supply vs. demand.
To me, it seem to be a mixture of gov’t zoning laws (lobbied by corporations), foreign companies/people buying up land (to hold onto as an asset), and just more companies buying up the housing market to resale or rent out.
At least in the US, zoning laws and parking minimums have really restricted the ability of cities to build more housing in high demand areas. Look at how much space is wasted just for surface parking lots in downtown Denver, Houston, Austin, etc… Name almost any bigger city and soooo much valuable land is wasted on cars.
I also agree that real estate should not be used as an investment. If there was more restrictions around owning property in cities, that would certainly help. AirBnB/short term rentals are definitely not helping and should be heavily regulated/taxed.
On cars, yep, nothing will help as much as building up public transportation as much as posaible; electric/hydrogen cars are not the solution. A possible one with not too much building are increasing and improving bus routes and their frequency.
I was able to learn a bit from NotJustBikes and similar channels.
Zoning on buildings to parking space requirments are just mental.
All of it leads back to zoning laws preventing more housing being built, and of the correct types. Most of that is caused by NIMBY types worried about the character of the neighborhood, and perhaps a bit of bigotry. It IS supply and demand, and short supply is caused by bad policymaking that nobody really benefits from.
It’s not just in cities. Property prices have skyrocketed pretty much everywhere. Maybe you can point out to some middle-of-nowhere place where this hasn’t happened, but such places also tend to have no jobs which is a problem for the typical person (so entitled, needing a job to live, I know).
You have to be a complete moron (and pretty ignorant) to believe housing prices are so high because “there is simply not enough supply”. Have you lot slept through the last decades? Do you know anything that’s happening?
Loads of people want to live in cities today, and at least in the west, it’s become more and more difficult to build housing. Therefore demand far outstrips supply.
It’s speculative investments, housing as assets instead of, well, housing. In almost every major city in the west there is an astonishing number of empty apartments. In my hometown of Berlin there is essentially one large corporation that owns most of the city as investment.
Also, new housing is constantly being built - but not for (average) people to live in it.
You may also recall that the whole thing came crashing down in 2008? Or have we just forgotten what happened there and the effects it has to this day.
The US is uniquely fucked. What the rest of the west shows though is that the housing crisis exists even without the idiocy that is American suburbanism. The consistent factor across the board is housing-as-profit.
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The problem is simple: in a perfect society we wouldn’t increase flat prices simply so a landlord can make even more profit. There is no actual, logical reason why the flat should cost 5x as much, only made up ones that basically say “but I wanna!”. There’s no actual 5x increase in costs for the landlord, they pocket most of that additional rent.
Living space isn’t something you should be able to profit this heavily from in a functioning society, as it’s a basic necessity to life. It’s alright that nicer flats cost more but nowadays we value huge additional profits to landlords higher than basic human rights, provocatively spoken.
There is of course the supposed capitalistic reason of doing so, which is to make it more lucrative for others to build additional homes. Additional homes should in turn dampen the prices again. This however hasn’t been panning out the last few decades, as the prices have kept inflating.
In my area those who decide on new building projects own a lot of property, so they of course keep additional homes being build to a minimum to further increase prices of their property… it’s a rigged system, by design.
That would be the case if it was as simple as, ECON 101: supply vs. demand.
To me, it seem to be a mixture of gov’t zoning laws (lobbied by corporations), foreign companies/people buying up land (to hold onto as an asset), and just more companies buying up the housing market to resale or rent out.
At least in the US, zoning laws and parking minimums have really restricted the ability of cities to build more housing in high demand areas. Look at how much space is wasted just for surface parking lots in downtown Denver, Houston, Austin, etc… Name almost any bigger city and soooo much valuable land is wasted on cars.
I also agree that real estate should not be used as an investment. If there was more restrictions around owning property in cities, that would certainly help. AirBnB/short term rentals are definitely not helping and should be heavily regulated/taxed.
You have spoken nothing but the truth, IMO.
On cars, yep, nothing will help as much as building up public transportation as much as posaible; electric/hydrogen cars are not the solution. A possible one with not too much building are increasing and improving bus routes and their frequency.
I was able to learn a bit from NotJustBikes and similar channels.
Zoning on buildings to parking space requirments are just mental.
Thank you for the feedback!
All of it leads back to zoning laws preventing more housing being built, and of the correct types. Most of that is caused by NIMBY types worried about the character of the neighborhood, and perhaps a bit of bigotry. It IS supply and demand, and short supply is caused by bad policymaking that nobody really benefits from.
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Thanks for the reply!
Yes, you are right about the residents.
Similar problem with homelessness, people don’t want shelters near their homes, so homelessness keeps being a thing.
It’s not just in cities. Property prices have skyrocketed pretty much everywhere. Maybe you can point out to some middle-of-nowhere place where this hasn’t happened, but such places also tend to have no jobs which is a problem for the typical person (so entitled, needing a job to live, I know).
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Whoa? Is that logic? We don’t do that here.
You have to be a complete moron (and pretty ignorant) to believe housing prices are so high because “there is simply not enough supply”. Have you lot slept through the last decades? Do you know anything that’s happening?
Supply is definitely part of the problem. I’m not familiar with a single expert who claims otherwise.
What else is it?
Loads of people want to live in cities today, and at least in the west, it’s become more and more difficult to build housing. Therefore demand far outstrips supply.
It’s speculative investments, housing as assets instead of, well, housing. In almost every major city in the west there is an astonishing number of empty apartments. In my hometown of Berlin there is essentially one large corporation that owns most of the city as investment. Also, new housing is constantly being built - but not for (average) people to live in it.
You may also recall that the whole thing came crashing down in 2008? Or have we just forgotten what happened there and the effects it has to this day.
Removed by mod
The US is uniquely fucked. What the rest of the west shows though is that the housing crisis exists even without the idiocy that is American suburbanism. The consistent factor across the board is housing-as-profit.
Removed by mod