Fuck you, article writer. Prices are completely out-of-reach for me and many I know. ALSO, that same rent that is ever-increasing to enrich those who buy up all the housing supply is what I should be saving for my first home, but I can't, unless I want to live on the street. This obviously compounds the problem. I'll probably never be able to own a home...
Yeah, people can't afford to buy. It has nothing to do with not wanting to.
The only way this article becomes plausible is if the average person was spending/saving/investing their money else where...
We're not though because it doesn't exist...
Honestly, unless people are in their 20s and willing to live out of a van (using a gym for shower etc.); I have no idea how the fuck people are expected to save up enough to buy a home. Shit’s beyond ridiculous.
After decades of trying to get a house, I also accepted that I'll be likely renting now for the foreseeable future.
There's nothing left for us. The wealthy have it all at this stage, and things will only get worse economically. AI is going to push so many people out of jobs... And we no longer have a functional federal government in the US. I gave up on that, too.
We just take it all one day at a time at this point. Be kind to the others, we all need to help each other.
That isn’t what I’ve heard but there’s a strong argument to be made for that choice.
Generally a house is not a proper vehicle for retirement savings, and its value will usually appreciate well below market benchmarks, if at all. (The only exception is if you plan on monetizing it somehow, like buying a multifamily house and renting to others, etc.)
Given housing price inflation, homebuyers must lock up an increasingly significant amount of capital in home equity, starting with the down payment.
This means that, in the vast majority of cases, buying a house has significant long term opportunity costs, considering what that capital would be worth when properly invested. So unless you have already maximized a bunch of other superior savings vehicles and still have enough annual surplus to convert to a down payment, it’s going to downsize and/or delay your retirement.
Owning a home can give you a lifestyle and long term control you don’t have renting but, given how compounding interest works, that control will come at an extremely high price.
If people and corporations were not allowed to treat residential housing as an investment, this problem would diminish over time, but here we are. In America, a house is never just a house. It’s an idea.
Lol, retirement.
How old are you that you think you will get to retire? I'm not being facetious. I will never retire. I've accepted it early so I don't get more depressed when I'm old and tired.
Age of old-woman-man in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. And it’s just a term. Figuring out how to save a little and how to grow it is more about creating a safety net, to know I won’t be unhoused again, won’t need to sell plasma for bread or work for assholes. I don’t intend to actually retire, even if that’s an option.
