Re:Newsom signs legislation to boost California’s housing su...
by teakettle42 on Thursday September 16, 2021 @09:51PM
(#28560282)
Isn't Germany experiencing a housing shortage — and soaring rents — in their major cities?
That aside, I'm not convinced that encouraging home ownership is bad policy. Home ownership is a direct personal investment in your community, a means of securing one's most base human needs. If people are not building equity in their own homes, someone else is — why is that a superior outcome?
Re:Newsom signs legislation to boost California’s housing su...
by s17n on Thursday September 16, 2021 @09:56PM
(#28560315)
Building wealth via housing isn't about savings, it's about leverage.
Re:Newsom signs legislation to boost California’s housing su...
by mensetmanusman on Thursday September 16, 2021 @09:39PM
(#28560166)
I wish our wealth building was in the form of production machines that families maintain through investment.
Re:Newsom signs legislation to boost California’s housing su...
by zepto on Thursday September 16, 2021 @09:41PM
(#28560179)
What do you mean by “ production machines”?
Re:Newsom signs legislation to boost California’s housing su...
by dodobirdlord on Thursday September 16, 2021 @11:52PM
(#28561013)
Presumably investing by buying stock in companies that are economically productive, as opposed to engaging in purely speculative investment like owning land.
This is a policy choice, and I would argue it's a bad choice. If we strive to make housing cheaper across the board, households will have more money available to save and invest by other means.
In particular, the incentives created by housing as an appreciating investment are awful. Owners who have all their money locked up in home equity are incentivized to oppose new development, creating an artificial housing shortage.
As a counterexample, consider Germany: virtually all households rent, housing stock is plentiful and affordable, and the middle class is still able to save and build wealth.