• Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    It’s weird how in one of the richest countries in the world, many people even couples with 2 full time incomes can’t afford a house?
    It’s extra weird, since it seems to me many American homes are built with rather cheap materials compared to Denmark where I live.
    What makes even weirder, is that USA is a country with a lot of room on average for building and expanding living spaces.
    Seems to me this may be a case of lacking political planning.

    • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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      3 months ago

      It’s weird how in one of the richest countries in the world

      Not that weird when most of the riches are held by a handful of people. The rest of us are just trying to get by.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Yes that’s a problem, still Americans have higher average pay than most countries. With lots of room and cheap materials, it should be relatively easy to afford a house. And AFAIK it used to be that way. People could afford a house, car, children and health insurance on one income.

        • Franklin@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          It’s a mix of outdated zoning laws, investment firms buying up all the available housing and car centric infrastructure

          • grue@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Items #1 and #3 are restatements of the same issue, and #2 is a red herring.

            The problem really is just car-centric zoning.

            • Franklin@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              No there’s other things that aren’t specifically car centric but are definitely a cause for undue expenditure.

              You don’t think that the firms looking to earn passive income and controlling a significant amount of the supply is an adding additional expense by adding an unneeded middleman?

              Don’t get me wrong car centric infrastructure can get fucked but I think it’s important we work on the problem from all angles.

              • grue@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                You don’t think that the firms looking to earn passive income and controlling a significant amount of the supply is an adding additional expense by adding an unneeded middleman?

                I think the ridiculous protectionist (for NIMBYs and the rich) laws restricting supply are the main reason their business model is so lucrative.

                If you hate big landlords and REITs, working to abolish zoning density restrictions is the best thing you can do in order to drive them to bankruptcy.

                • Franklin@lemmy.world
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                  3 months ago

                  I can guarantee you they would still find a way of profit on it and extract as much value as possible, that’s just capitalism’s end game.

        • grue@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          With lots of room

          Country size is irrelevant. People like clustering together in cities.

          • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            True, but there is still generally better possibility to expand those cities outwards. But that requires that new building plots are developed, and made available at fair prices.

            If new legal building plots aren’t made available as needed, prices will increase on existing homes.

            • grue@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              Continuing to sprawl outward is the worst thing we can possibly do. It is literally omnicidal.

            • whoreticulture@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              3 months ago

              But that just means people are commuting in. There is cheaper housing spread out from the cities, but few people actually want to live there, and those who do will commute hours into the city for work. It’s often more prudent to rent in a city…

              We need density, not spreading out.