Why rent and home prices are so high

[John in Montreal]

I am more concerned with the facts "on the ground" than political/economic philosophies.

Nor are all landlords part of the evil 1%.

Correct. Landlords are part of the "petty bourgeoisie". The lower middle class of small business owners and rent collectors whom the rich will attempt to position as a counter-revolutionary force whenever the poor forget their place. But if you are not interested in philosophy this distinction is probably lost on you.

 

[SLB_SA]

"If they stick with it in a stubborn refusal to give in the the evil new market values, great, if they can afford to let money go so easily, but the reality for most of us is we dont have that luxury in any property ownership or investment, and its not just rich corporate evil empires that own property and investments."

I think a lot of people may be trapped in their houses; they have a (reasonably) low interest rate mortgage and would be worse off selling and trying to buy a different house. With the prices of labor, materials, etc., the repairs they will eventually need (new roof or siding, plumbing issues, hvac problems, etc.) may force them to sell and leave them low on options. Maybe some of them should consider selling now and becoming nomads?

 

[rruff]

Nor are all landlords part of the evil 1%.

No more evil than the general population. Most are just trying to maximize their position in the "playing field" they find themselves in... like the rest of us.

If you want to know who to blame, look at the ones making laws and policies. Not the ones we elect unfortunately, but the ones spending 100s of billions of $$$ to lobby (bribe? extort?) for those laws.

We've had an economy that really worked for the majority of people... from the early 1930s to late 70s. Real median income and living standards exploded. Anyone who wanted to work could make a good living, support a family, send kids to college, etc... on one salary. We did it with high corporate and income taxes, union support (higher wages and minimum wage), and increasing government benefits. It wasn't that tricky, and it did not happen by accident. In that period, the rich actually got richer at a slower rate than the middle class.

Anyone want to guess why we had policies in those days that were so favorable to the middle class?

 

[Sky]

Capitalism is rule by bankers and far removed from a free market.

Housing is unaffordable for more and more people because the investor class has become wealthier and can buy more real estate.

Thanks for being woke and speaking the truth !!

 

[Sky]

As for rent, landlords are making up for losses due to Covid.
For both rent and home prices — in 2008, the Federal Reserve started an emergency lending program... PDCF, the Primary Dealer Credit Facility... that let large lenders borrow more govt money to stimulate housing after the Crash. The program ended in 2010.
But then came Covid. In March 2020, the PCDF program started up again. And this time every large bank and hedge fund group jumped on it. Huge companies like Blackstone, using $6 Billion of the Fed money to buy up literally hundreds of thousands of homes. Want to sell your house? If their computers say you are in an area that will go up, they offer cash on the barrelhead.
Problem is, homes have expenses. So all over the country, these jerks are raising rents, over and over. Can't pay? Get out. Here in Tombstone, this just happened to a friend, who had managed an 11-unit apartment complex for 18 years. Free rent in exchange for taking care of the place. New owners a month ago, an investment company, and she has to be out by Jan 1st. SS $700/month is all she has. Luckily, she will go live with a daughter in California? But what if she didn’t have a daughter? Rents here have doubled in the two years. And if you are working, your tax money is funding the Fed's PCDF. Politics? Both parties support the Fed, and to be honest, I don't believe Trump and now Biden had/have any idea of what's going on!
https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/pdcf.htm

Thanks for that update of the pirates running the plantation. I heard some about this online and the people commenting were substantiating it and making comments about how they refused to sell to investors and were only selling to real people/families. That gave me some hope that some people were waking up to the plantation and refusing to sell their fellow serfs out ~.

 

[Sky]

No more evil than the general population. Most are just trying to maximize their position in the "playing field" they find themselves in... like the rest of us.

If you want to know who to blame, look at the ones making laws and policies. Not the ones we elect unfortunately, but the ones spending 100s of billions of $$$ to lobby (bribe? extort?) for those laws.

We've had an economy that really worked for the majority of people... from the early 1930s to late 70s. Real median income and living standards exploded. Anyone who wanted to work could make a good living, support a family, send kids to college, etc... on one salary. We did it with high corporate and income taxes, union support (higher wages and minimum wage), and increasing government benefits. It wasn't that tricky, and it did not happen by accident. In that period, the rich actually got richer at a slower rate than the middle class.

Anyone want to guess why we had policies in those days that were so favorable to the middle class?

My dad told me, 40 years ago that 'they' were going to bring down the middle class and get 'their' hands on all the money that was being swapped under the table. Are we there yet? I have met many people in person the past two decades who were thrown under the buss and had been middle class. I'd say the real controllers are ahead of many of us and got this game rigged and locked. The middle class was a building block as their is nothing more easy to slaughter than happily socially achieved well fed with a false sense of security ppl to entertain and distract whilst re-organizing the eCONomy to suit the few.

 

[Sky]

Plan B, become a self sufficient Nomad.

Until they put the squeeze on that and outlaw it.

 

[rvwandering]

I'm closing this thread because it's become too political. Some post have been deleted.