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Why are so many voters frustrated by the U.S. economy? It's home prices

13 Comments
By JOSH BOAK

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Housing is a difficult problem to tackle but if young people are living at home they should be rolling in dough from not having to pay rent/mortgage. I hope they are not thinking they should be able to buy a house on a McDonalds salary. Maybe somewhere in Wyoming if they want to do that.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

I love Japan. Banks will give a housing loan to anybody with a full time job making minimum 3 - 5 million yen. They don’t even care about how much money in savings you have.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

High interest rates, means few can finance new home construction or finance home purchase without having existing home equity. Home sales & home construction collapsing, thus the housing shortage and high prices.

WHY for high mortgage rates, Biden Admin increased money supply approx. 50% in 2021, along with record Govt. deficit spending. Mortgage rates today average about 7% vs. about 3% 4 years ago.

All remember & miss low rates, Trump wins on Inflation polling vs. Biden by approx. 25pts. Most young, stuck in rental market $hell, Biden support dropping sharply vs. 2020, why Trump's even in polling with under 35 voters.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

The US population increased by 1.8 million people last year alone, so of course the housing crisis gets worse. Stabilize or reduce the population and the problem will be solved. No housing crisis here in Japan.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

happyhereToday 09:42 am JST

The US population increased by 1.8 million people last year alone, so of course the housing crisis gets worse. Stabilize or reduce the population and the problem will be solved. No housing crisis here in Japan.

Yeah, then you'll find entirely different sets of things you won't be able to afford.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

American dream of home ownership dying for the young, real reason Biden's going to lose, as high interest rates and inflation, high cost of living, just brutal for young people trying to get ahead and start families etc.

No election fix for Biden, his reckless money printing and historic deficit spending continues. While Biden's caused great damage inside US, world suffering, high inflation due to currency devaluations due to too many USD$.

CNBC recently reported US Govt. Deficit increasing $1 Trillion every 100 days, that's inflationary. Any real surprise so many seek to de-dollarize and join BRICS?

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

It isn't just the USA but Canada also and others.

One factor is speculative buying!

You will see many here say:

" buying a house in Japan is a bad investment"

Most saying this are from North America with the mentality " buy a house to later sell it at a profit".

The next problem is regulations!

The approval process to build, the nanny state regulations, HMOs, zoning regulations, all make building a house in North America far more difficult, costly and a far longer process, requiring multiple city, state, provincial inspections often right down to the colour of the building.

Example:

My house in Tokyo is located on 70m2 of land and is 120m2 of living space and I could extend that another 40m2.

But in nearly every North America location my Japanese house wouldn't pass approval for many reasons, the first being the steep angle of the stairs!

My cousin trying to build a house in North America found out just about everything needed inspection with long delays waiting for the city inspector during which time work stopped.

Everything needed to be "stupid proof" from the power outlets (Tamper-Resistant) that make inserting a plug very difficult for those with dexterity issues like the elderly, to the door handles.

Each new "safety" regulation causes another increase in cost.

My parents place has a major issue with the entrance staircase, they are no longer safe, but again one year later and still waiting for city construction permit to be processed and approved!

You want to move a window, you need a permit, and wait months if not years for approval.

So add it all up, long waits to renovate and upgrade, long waits for construction permits and approval, long wait for each inspection, over regulation for so-called safety reasons, zoning regulations, high interest rates and speculative buying.

And you have the perfect storm for a housing crisis!

Note the number one zoning regulation problem is that many cities have "single family home" zoning.

This means no duplex or triplex houses with second floor rental apartments, leaving only a small area where concentrated apartment blocks can be built, creating a shortage of rentals.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

When housing is allowed to be a commodity, society is broken. The same problem exists in London and Australia where greedy sods gobble up multiple houses to speculate where families can barely afford to rent let alone dream of buying their family home.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

TaiwanIsNotChina

Today 09:43 am JST

happyhereToday 09:42 am JST

> The US population increased by 1.8 million people last year alone, so of course the housing crisis gets worse. Stabilize or reduce the population and the problem will be solved. No housing crisis here in Japan.

> Yeah, then you'll find entirely different sets of things you won't be able to afford

Happy has a point well sort of!

Those on the right or center right that often advocate stopping or lowering immigration are more often than not also the ones advocating for few regulations, regulations that increase cost, increase delays and over regulated making it difficult to building new homes.

Those on the left and centre left and welcome more immigration are often the ones pushing for more and more regulations, more zoning laws, more restrictions on construction, more so-called safety equipment in new and renovated homes, things like the angle of the staircase, more guardrails, more childproofing with higher costing things like tamper proof outlets, autolock cabinets, doorknobs, even doors that need you to hold it all the way until closed (yes the latest "safety feature" the door will stop closing so "children cannot get their fingers pinched" ).

And there is the problem, neither side is willing to compromise!

I am personally fine with legal immigration, but if we want more homes and more affordable homes then we need to increase the number being built and fir that we need to speed up the approval process, lower regulations and change zoning laws in most places.

Cities like NY, Boston, etc ..were built with multi family homes often with the owner living on the main floor and renting the upper floors.

But today in most major cities in North America you can rarely build such places due to regulations.

Under today's regulations nearly 80% of multi family homes in NY, Boston, etc... wouldn't be possible to build.

The entrance stairs too steep in inside stairs too steep rooms without windows, rooms too small etc...

To be able to increase the population naturally or by immigration we need to make building homes and especially multi family homes easier and faster and that means lowering the cost and regulations.

Now don't go off the deep end, I am not saying eliminate all regulations but if I want to build my home with a steeper staircase or without tamper proof outlets then that is my choice as long a the real safety needs like proper wiring, plumbing and construction methods (load bearing walls, floor framing etc..) are followed.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

When housing prices go up 50 or 100% in 3 years, and corporations can purchase single family houses leading to antitrust concerns then something is wrong.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Where I live developers wanted to build some homes but because of environmental concerns and the fight over where to locate Kangaroo rats that are near extinction held up the entire building permit for 10 years. The city and county spent 10 Million dollars on road improvements before any development could start. I blame the environmentalist.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The article failing to even mention immigration as a factor speaks volumes.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Increasing interest rates on spurious fakenomics grounds hammers the middle classes with mortgages. America has plenty of empty properties, but they are slums or derelict in areas where no sane person wants to live. How about fixing up these areas? It's a huge country with a healthier economy than the RotW and largely impervious to war. Why are developers not building properties? I guess there is more profit in more expensive homes. Doesn't America have housing associations?

Unmentioned is the variance in price, which is relevant in most countries. Too many people want to live in an expensive area where they can barely afford a shoebox. If they moved to a cheaper area they could afford a decent home. You could buy two or three houses where I live for the price of one in the South East. You could buy four or five for the price of a house in London. Just accept your financial circumstances and move.

One benefit of WFH is that you can work from a much cheaper H.

In the UK too many people have made themselves vulnerable to interest rate increases by buying larger homes than they need - one or more spare bedrooms for visiting family. You are buying a house not a hotel. Idiots. Never take out a mortgage that pushes you too close to the edge.

The person in the article is 67. It's very difficult to get a mortgage at that age.

I expect politicians will eventually blame all this on AirBnB and levy a tax on their properties to cover up their own decades of failure in the provision of social housing.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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