An increasing number of renters are worried they will never be able to buy a home, with many pointing to the lack of affordability as the main culprit, according to a survey released Friday by Redf…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
Basically that many houses in USA are made of wood, we can’t do that here, because the climate is too wet. So wood doesn’t last very long. That means we need to make brick houses. Brick houses are way more expensive to build than wood.
Also many places in USA don’t require the same level of isolation.
In large parts of Sweden they can make wood houses too, and their house prices are way lower than here.
I’m not saying American houses are bad, but the climate in large parts of USA allows for more and cheaper options.
Not the person you’re asking this from but as a Finn who watches a lot of construction related videos on YouTube I too get the feeling that houses in the US are built to a lower standard than here. It’s not so much that the materials are worse quality but more that the building code is much stricter here.
I’m a plumber by trade so my area of expertise is quite narrow but couple things that come to mind is how copper pipes are often soldered in the US where as here they’re always brazed which is a much stronger joint. We also don’t allow any connections to be made inside walls but in the US they’re common. Toilets there also tend to clog up quite often because of the way they operate which almost never happens here. Another thing I’ve noticed is that in the US they use a lot of wood and plywood even on bigger structures which poses a fire hazard as well as there doesn’t seem to be as much thought put into the insulation and vapor barriers.
in the US they use a lot of wood and plywood even on bigger structures which poses a fire hazard
they are a HUGE fire hazard and are nominally illegal except for a convenient loophole, as long as you claim you’ll be adding automatic sprinklers, you can sidestep a lot of the fire safety permitting – now they just burn down during construction before the fire systems have been installed …
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.
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.
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.
It’s a mix of outdated zoning laws, investment firms buying up all the available housing and car centric infrastructure
Items #1 and #3 are restatements of the same issue, and #2 is a red herring.
The problem really is just car-centric zoning.
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.
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.
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.
The firms thing is very real. In a local small town, the majority of rented homes are owned by the same company.
Country size is irrelevant. People like clustering together in cities.
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.
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.
Continuing to sprawl outward is the worst thing we can possibly do. It is literally omnicidal.
It’s not a lack of political planning, it’s a lack of political power for the working class.
It’s done by design to drive people into poverty and subservience.
Can you expand on the superior Danish building materials? Genuinely curious.
Basically that many houses in USA are made of wood, we can’t do that here, because the climate is too wet. So wood doesn’t last very long. That means we need to make brick houses. Brick houses are way more expensive to build than wood.
Also many places in USA don’t require the same level of isolation.
In large parts of Sweden they can make wood houses too, and their house prices are way lower than here.
I’m not saying American houses are bad, but the climate in large parts of USA allows for more and cheaper options.
Not the person you’re asking this from but as a Finn who watches a lot of construction related videos on YouTube I too get the feeling that houses in the US are built to a lower standard than here. It’s not so much that the materials are worse quality but more that the building code is much stricter here.
I’m a plumber by trade so my area of expertise is quite narrow but couple things that come to mind is how copper pipes are often soldered in the US where as here they’re always brazed which is a much stronger joint. We also don’t allow any connections to be made inside walls but in the US they’re common. Toilets there also tend to clog up quite often because of the way they operate which almost never happens here. Another thing I’ve noticed is that in the US they use a lot of wood and plywood even on bigger structures which poses a fire hazard as well as there doesn’t seem to be as much thought put into the insulation and vapor barriers.
they are a HUGE fire hazard and are nominally illegal except for a convenient loophole, as long as you claim you’ll be adding automatic sprinklers, you can sidestep a lot of the fire safety permitting – now they just burn down during construction before the fire systems have been installed …
not op but i find it weird how you guys build houses mostly out of wood instead of brick and mortar. why is that?