cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/3560407
Considering how crazy expensive accommodations have become the last couple of years, concentrated in the hands of greedy corporations, landlords and how little politicians seem to care about this problem, do you think we will ever experience a real estate market crash that would bring those exorbitant prices back to Earth?
I (age 60) remember buying my condo in 1991 or so, interest rates about 7% with a VA-guaranteed loan. My parent’s first mortgage was 2% or 3% but my mom, a Realtor, said those days were permanently gone. (They weren’t. I had that in the house I bought in 2010.) But it felt forever at the time, and she thought it would be forever.
Nothing is forever. It may crash, but something else we can’t imagine might happen too. I think we all agree the present situation is unsustainable.
The crash of 2008 is just 15 years ago. You could hardly give away properties in my neighborhood - there were multiple sales for less than the cost of my car. Those exact conditions may not recur, but speculators always, always overextend. The 15 years of continuous gains we’ve experienced since 2008 are historically unprecedented, so one might even guess that we’re due for a major correction. Maybe it won’t be for another 10 years, but there will definitely be a major housing crash “in our lifetime.” Unless, maybe, you’re already 80 years old.