So I was listening yesterday and the reported says something like… Young people have a hard time getting a mortgage because the older generation has low mortgage rates…blah blah…but now they’re all loosing jobs, getting sick etc so “that will unlock housing or mortgages” something annoying like that.

Well yeah. It happens every generation. Until I suppose nobody can make enough money to rent either much less have a mortgage. I much rather hear about mortgage rates coming down after another happy CEO event. Yeah fucking unlock that shit please!

  • Veedem@lemmy.worldEnglish
    132·
    1 day ago

    Mortgage rates coming down is not the answer. It’ll only drive up demand while supply stays the same. There is a major need for more supply. People will reply with the number of vacant units, but vacancy is a broad measure that ignores things like a house currently being sold and going through the closing process.

    The country, as a whole, needs something like 6.5 million more housing units to meet demand at which point prices would come down.

    It’s unfortunately not going to happen without government (local or federal) intervention.

    This Freakonomics episode focuses more on rentals but the basic concepts are the same:

    https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-rent-control-doesnt-work/

    • SoftTeeth@lemmy.worldEnglish
      151·
      1 day ago

      As long as corporate landlords are allowed to set their own prices then the prices will never come down.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      1 day ago

      I’ve been saying it for years. We need to give HUD 500 million dollars (to start) and immunity from all but federal environmental laws. They drop apartment buildings in the highest cost markets with prices set to repay HUD over 50 years, cover maintenance, and two remodels in that time period. And the rent is of course nearly stabilized because it’s not seeking a profit. Then use the near guaranteed asset income to finance the next wave of buildings.

      Just start dropping fucking anchors into the market.

      They need to do the same thing for groceries too. Starting in food deserts, then monopoly areas, then high cost of living areas. Americans think they would hate it but in reality there would be literal fights to get those apartments.