614

They keep raising prices, stating that it's due to inflation, but then they keep having record profits.

Meanwhile, the average American can barely afford rent or food nowadays.

What are we to do? Vote? I have been but that doesn't seem to do much since I'm just voting for a representative that makes the actual decisions.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

My point is that if you are currently bidding against wealthy financial interests as well as individuals just looking for a place to live, then giving everyone money will raise the buying power of those individuals relative to those interests (because their wealth increases more as a percentage), thereby making all of them more able to afford housing. I don't know how to put it simpler than that.

Of course it's also true that there is not enough housing, again I acknowledge that as the other part of the problem to be addressed separately.

[-] phillaholic@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

But it’s not going to increase supply, and somewhere around 70% of homes purchased last year were by individuals. Home prices will rise as individuals can bid higher than before.

The only solution is to build more housing.

[-] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 10 months ago

somewhere around 70% of homes purchased last year were by individuals

What if you remove individuals who already have a home from that number?

Home prices will rise as individuals can bid higher than before.

Again, consider relative buying power. Even if you aren't more wealthy relative to the average person and that stays the same, being more wealthy relative to the wealthiest still gives you greater ability to buy a home. This can be true even if demand and prices rise, and would be true even if it was only 30% of buyers that you're becoming more competitive against.

The only solution is to build more housing.

That really should be part of it, but ultimately it is not enough. If wealth inequality gets high enough, if the market regards labor as worthless enough, it isn't going to matter how much housing there is, it will get repurposed as golf courses or something.

[-] phillaholic@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

I believe it only goes down from 70 to 55. A better shot for sure, but you’d still be overpaying and having to buy without an inspection etc.

I don’t see being more wealthy relative to the wealthiest as that beneficial in this scenario. They still have the ability to outbid if they want to.

Building more housing, particularly apartment building or condos that people can own is the simplest solution to the problem. Solving income equality is a massive task with no perfect solutions. Building more houses is straight forward.

[-] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 10 months ago

They still have the ability to outbid if they want to.

Are you familiar with price elasticity of demand? If they have to pay a larger share of their wealth, they will buy fewer. If houses cost $100, couldn't you think of reasons to buy more than one, where you wouldn't if houses were priced within what you could afford but much more expensive than that?

income equality

IMO the distinction between income and wealth inequality is very important here. Income inequality is about jobs, wealth is about accumulated capital.

[-] phillaholic@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

Yes, but again, there isn’t enough supply for everything you are saying to be the problem. It’s Supply supply supply.

[-] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 10 months ago

Saying "supply" three times in a row isn't an argument that other factors are not also relevant.

[-] phillaholic@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

Supply is the singles biggest factor is all

[-] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 10 months ago

Well I don't disagree with that really

this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2024
614 points (96.9% liked)

No Stupid Questions

35709 readers
3060 users here now

No such thing. Ask away!

!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.

All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.



Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.

On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.

If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.



Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.

If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.



Credits

Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!

The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS