Low interest rates in advanced countries have pushed money into real estate

Re:Low interest rates in advanced countries have pushed mone... by seanmcdirmid on Wednesday November 24, 2021 @05:41PM (#29336027)

What about a Singapore style solution? As a city state, they don't have the benefit of having anywhere else to go, so public housing schemes (government provides affordable apartments to rent, no short term speculations allowed) are the main way to go. Or we could make housing depreciate like in Tokyo (and allow for low end small rooms without central heating).

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Re:Low interest rates in advanced countries have pushed mone... by linguae on Wednesday November 24, 2021 @05:52PM (#29336137)

Sadly public housing in the United States has been a policy failure that's tied to our issues regarding poverty and race. The only way I see public housing working in an American context is if it was seen to benefit the middle class, kind of like how FHA loans and the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac programs exist to help middle class households get mortgages with low down payments. I also know that some Bay Area municipalities have below-market rentals and for-purchase developments; some municipalities require all significant housing developments to set aside some below-market units.

Disclaimer: I grew up poor and I have relatives who lived in public housing; the environments they lived in were very rough, not only in terms of the quality of housing, but also in terms of living in crime-ridden neighborhoods. Now, I'm not saying that public housing has to be that way; I've heard good things about Singapore's public housing.

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Re:Low interest rates in advanced countries have pushed mone... by seanmcdirmid on Wednesday November 24, 2021 @06:15PM (#29336328)

I don't think "public housing in the USA" and "public housing in Singapore" are the same thing at all. The former was rent subsidized or even free housing given to the poor. The latter is probably subsidized socially, but is aimed at the middle class and involves letting people "buy housing" from the government, they aren't slums that are given away.

The only thing that Americans might hate about it is that they are universally 30 story concrete apartment buildings that Singapore is selling to its citizens at affordable costs. If you want detached, that is the private market and will cost a lot.

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Re:Low interest rates in advanced countries have pushed mone... by refurb on Thursday November 25, 2021 @01:19AM (#29338700)

Singapore's public housing system is out of control as well. If you meet income requirements you can buy an HDB. Currently backlog for new HDBs is ~4-5 years. You can't buy one unless you are married or over 35 years old. One new HDB development was 10x oversubscribed. Highly desirable HDBs are like winning a lottery, after 5 years you can sell and keep the appreciation (gov't is looking to clawback in the future). People "COV = cash over value" to get HDBs on the secondary market. 1000 sq ft HDBs can cost $1M SGD.

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