Re:Berlin buys thousands of apartments from corporate landlords
by notatoad on Saturday September 18, 2021 @01:38PM
(#28577883)
>You can't expand housing supply if nobody wants to.
it's wrong to say "nobody" wants to. the problem is that the homeowner class holds all the political power, and so there is no greater political sin than decreasing the cost of housing (or "lowering property values" in homeowner terminology). if anybody cared what non-homeowners thought, there'd be plenty of will to build more housing. as long as so many people's net worth is tied to their housing, there will be no appetite for lowering the cost of housing.
it's wrong to say "nobody" wants to. the problem is that the homeowner class holds all the political power, and so there is no greater political sin than decreasing the cost of housing (or "lowering property values" in homeowner terminology). if anybody cared what non-homeowners thought, there'd be plenty of will to build more housing. as long as so many people's net worth is tied to their housing, there will be no appetite for lowering the cost of housing.