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[UnNamed]

In Italy is less expensive to have a mortgage to buy an house than rent an apartment every month.

In Milan, rents are skyrocket, house prices are increasing but banks do not give you loans.

In 2010, the housing bubble exploded, then for some years prices are decreased until 2018/2019 before covid and war.

 

[Liljagare]

Sweden, its pretty screwed up. Queue for a rental in major city is years, and if you want to buy anything the 15% cash down needed before a bank loan makes it impossible to buy anything, unless you are lucky and have rich family you can borrow from.

No idea how young people are able to enter the housing market anymore. Also, alot of new construction complexes are allready borrowed out to the max with the banks, in order to keep the prices down for purchasing, but, as interests rates climbs, theese new condo-complexes are in trouble, with fees going up 50%/month. This and the winters electricity prices have really been felt, food prices rising.. yeah, we're in for a shit storm again.

 

[StueyDuck]

Location location

 

[Cyberpunkd]

In France there are a number of mechanisms to keep the market at bay, but it's not really working:

1. Rent increases are limited by law, so a situation like in the UK that rent goes up by 20% or 30% is impossible
2. The interest rate on mortgage is fixed for the whole duration of the credit
3. However in order to rent or buy you always need a mortgage payment or a rent to be 33-35% max of your net salary (after social security and income tax), this prevents people from taking on too much and then not being able to pay

In the end the banks do not make money on mortgages, they do on mortgage insurance. They are obligated to provide credit to people in order to facilitate real estate acquisition.

Prices in larger cities are insane, think 10-15k€ per m2 for good location.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

We're looking at moving closer to London and it's quite expensive. We wouldn't be able to do it if my girlfriend's parents weren't quite well off and making a contribution.

Relatively few houses that we've viewed have sold and so I wonder if the increased mortgage rates are putting houses out of reach.

Of course some ARE selling and I do find myself wondering who's buying them and what their circumstances are.

I think there's been little effort to control house prices in the UK, which benefits only people who are already in a good position. For those trying to buy a first home things are very difficult.

 

[Kenpachii]

I live in the Netherlands and it's a catastrophe. Literally impossible to buy as a starter, forced to rent. Housing prices are insane and even though they're somewhat declining, mortgage interest rates are spiking making it even more unappealing to actually buy. Good luck buying a house for 500,000 euros that was worth barely 200,000 euros just 10 years ago. Suck my dick.

Add to that the carbon "crisis" making the building of new houses borderline impossible and the entire system grinds to a halt.

It is unbelievable how fucked the housing market has become and fuck everyone responsible. I fucking hate them all with every fibre of my being.

Pretty much this. My house went up by 2x the price in the last 6 years.

 

[gaming_again]

In the UK. Not as bad as Australia or Canada from what I can tell, but still abysmal. I had to move far away from London when we had a kid. A £200,000 flat where I am now would be close to £1m in the city lmao.

Western governments the world over appear to simply despise their young, if their housing policies are anything to judge them by. We all live in a gerontocracy.

 

[NekoFever]

The UK's bad. I'm glad I bought before things really exploded in the last few years because I'd struggle to get anything close to what I have now.

It's not as awful as London etc where I live, but you'll still struggle to find a house for less than half a million.

There's a serious problem with affordable housing just ending up in the hands of private landlords who charge ridiculous rents. I sold my flat when I bought a house with my GF and it was bought by an 'investor' who did nothing to improve it and the same day listed it for rent for more than twice what the mortgage was costing me – and BTL mortgages are usually interest-only, so I doubt he was paying nearly what I was. It turns renting into a trap because it's so expensive that it's just not possible to save a deposit to buy somewhere.

 

[Lord Panda]

Forgot to also add that a fair number of Australian politicians have residential and commercial investment properties, so what real incentive do they have to change the status quo? They just mouth empty nothings, meaningless tweak legislation around the edges, and announce white elephant schemes to increase supply without actually addressing the root cause of all this bullshit.

And vast swathes of Australian voters have this "got mine, suck shit mate." mentality. Among the most selfish narrow/minded moronic populations given the power to vote, focussing on short-term rewards at the expense of their children, grandchildren etc. The last time a political party tried advocate for tax reform and shake up the investment and out-of-control housing market as part of their election campaign, they were obliterated at the polls and lost a sure-win election. We export all of our precious metals and rare-earths and then buy that shit back at a premium in the form of manufactured goods from mainly China. I could go on but in short, as an Australian I find Australia to be goddamn retarded.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

In my town the absolute cheapest house for sale currently is 225k. For 872 square feet on a .87 acre lot. Unbelievable. Nearly a quarter of a million dollars for an 872 square foot house.

 

[RJMacready73]

Bought a fixer upper in a real nice part of where I come from and the house has more than doubled in 7yrs, thankfully it's our ahem "forever" home so we have no plans on ever wanting to move, it's plenty big for us and the kids which going by how utterly fucked the housing market is, they'll probably be staying with us a lot longer than anticipated, we're one of the lucky ones

 

[Lasha]

In my town the absolute cheapest house for sale currently is 225k. For 872 square feet on a .87 acre lot. Unbelievable. Nearly a quarter of a million dollars for an 872 square foot house.

Could be worse. I paid around a mil for 1200.

 

[chromhound]

I live in Canada.

It is fucking BRUTAL.

With a capital B.

No lies detected

 

[jshackles]

In my town the absolute cheapest house for sale currently is 225k. For 872 square feet on a .87 acre lot. Unbelievable. Nearly a quarter of a million dollars for an 872 square foot house.

The cheapest available house right now in my town is $375k - it's an 840 square foot home that has no heating an no electricity hooked up presently on the lot (so, you'd be looking at having to get the electric company to run electricity to the place - maybe another $25k on top of the purchase price, maybe another $20k to have HVAC installed). It was built in 1921. Oh, it's also in a flood zone so the insurance would be through the roof.

It'll probably be sold by the end of the week, so you better act fast.

The cheapest (what I would consider to be) livable house in the area is $405k for a 640 square foot place. There are some 900 square foot condos that start around $650k, which is also considered "cheap" here now.

 

[MikeM]

Canada here- its fucking terrible. Im legitimately concerned for my young kids and would welcome a crash.

I have a townhouse worth $700k that was worth $425k six years ago. Makes no sense- it needs to crash down. Only way to do it is supply, which isn’t happening fast enough.

I think relief may occur once boomers die out and their homes come to market, but still a long time away.

 

[GMCamaro]

It’s a constant struggle to just keep a roof over heads. The standard of living will continue to decrease, and the cost for lower quality will only increase.

 

[lethial]

I live in Canada.

It is fucking BRUTAL.

With a capital B.

But the thing is, these houses are fucking selling. But to WHO!?!? Who is affording this shit? Banks are giving these people mortgages. And they are making the payments.

So I have no fucking clue whats going on behind the scenes. Must be a bunch of secret millionaires.

I sold my town house in 3 days earlier this year on the west coast, I couldn't believe how fast it sold plus the small bidding war considering interest rates.

 

[badblue]

Haha, I was looking at Edmonton tbh. Specifically because houses were a bit cheaper. But yeah, the crime rate there kinda worries, especially for my wife. I can handle that shit. But I dont want her to deal with that. Not sure how big of a deal that is or just an exaggeration.

I'm in Edmonton and my wife does a fair amount of real estate. While housing prices are cheaper (for the moment) then other parts of the country, my wife is mostly busy right now with sales. Lots of people are selling because the interest rates on the mortgages are pricing them out of their current homes. My neighborhood is one of the older ones and the most recent sales in the area of the have been sold for around $400-500k (50-60's build, updates needed) and have been knocked down for a duplex with each side selling for $700+ (took a few months to sell).

The crime rate is bad but it's mostly in specific areas. Having lived here for almost 20 years now, the bad crime areas then are still the bad crime areas now. Out side of those areas (and mostly at night for those areas) the other main concern is the growing homeless population which has been causing an increase in crime downtown and along our LRT line.

EPS has a map, if you're interested.

 

[IDKFA]

Rent is going up everywhere here. My rent has gone up two years in a row now. Houses are impossible to find for a reasonable price. If you do find one you have to pay more than the asking price often to get it. Housing didn't use to be this expensive. I'm not even talking about the "good old days" I'm taking about even 7 or 8 years ago. Maybe even more recent than that. What's is like in your corner of the world?

UK here and it's rough.

There is a real lack of housing and as soon as a house goes up for sale it's like the fucking Hunger Games. Scores of people battling for an overpriced POS house and using any tactic possible.

Last year the house we were renting was up for sale. People were sending the owners letters with sob stories on how they should be the ones to get the house because they had young children, they wanted to start a family or they had just lost their mother and getting the house would "cure" their depression. It was a poxy little two bedroom house and it sold to another landlord for £250K! Unbelievably, when this investor came to look at the house, I heard them tell the estate agent "I'll pay more than anyone will offer. If somebody puts in a higher bid, I'll beat it". She got the house.

Basically, prices are out of control, interest rates are insane and the lack of affordable homes means it's a proper battle to get a house.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

In Atlanta, prices SKYROCKETED and just never came down by me. Other areas have seen SOME declines, mine nothing. Its absurd. Tons of new builds too. Around 1.7m for a new build over 4k sq ft, <.3 acre. And not even a finished basement. Crap landscaping if any. Plus new builds by developers these days are fckin cheap ass corner cutting trash. Single wide driveways for 2/3 car garages. Large cracks in brick facade, cheap paint. Etc etc. the only thing different now than at peak market is that these POSes arent flying off the shelf in a week after listing. They sit for months but no price changes. Dunno who tf is paying for this shit but it boggles my mind.

Im guessing its a flood of baby boomer money helping out their kids.

At this point its cheaper for us to rebuild on our lot than it is to buy a new development or existing yet older larger home. To think i can build a better brand new custom home cheaper than it is to buy whats available new or old is just mindboggling. I keep waiting for the bubble to burst but its never happening.

The worst part is our salaries have barely increased.

 

[Mohonky]

Australia. People like to talk about the snakes, roided kangaroos, spiders, natural calamities, and so forth but the real horror is our housing market.

A recent survey indicated that 2/3rds of young people have given up on owning their own homes, and are just doing what they can to find a place to rent/live. Beyond fucked up.

This.

Basically gonna have to wait for the olds to die in order to ever own a home, and I don't even live in a big city.

As a single individual I can't even justify moving out. Might have been a possibility when I was younger, but now it's just easier not too, going full eastern European multiple generations under one roof seems the better option.

Most of the people I know who are renting are shit scared of even being able to find a place to rent even before worrying about whether they can afford it.

 

[QSD]

I'm in the Netherlands and it's a sad sad story for young people here. I basically got lucky, bought an apartment in Amsterdam in 2013 when prices were low (~140k for a small but comfortable apartment in a decent neighbourhood), the value has skyrocketed to almost 3x that now. If I speak to younger people at work, they are all sharing housing with friends or paying insane rents, it's actually quite sad and I just thank the stars I got out ahead of that game. It was more luck than insight though, I just wanted to move and buying seemed the best option at the time. Had I been ~5 years later, I wouldn't even have been able to afford.

 

[Paltheos]

"US but..."

I don't know what I'm going to do. I have a professional job now and I desperately want to buy my own place but can't justify it right now. I don't see it getting any better, and some of the hopes I've seen in this thread I'm concerned are misplaced. "Just wait for the boomers to die out" isn't a viable strategy if a new batch of young adults come in to compete with the older adults (like us) who've been biding their time. Somebody's fucked. To really know your odds though, I think you'd need to compare death rates now with birth rates from ~20ish years ago + immigration patterns.

Is interesting to read about things being bad everywhere. I hope we're not representative of the population, in this case.

 

[FullMetalx117]

In the U.S. and as mentioned it’s bad. However, I think we’re just at start for decline in house prices. After 2008, housing didn’t bottom till 2012-2013. Compared to last year, housing has come down, we’re just in year 1. I do think interest rates will have an effect. Millienals in their late 20s are a large cohort and they want homes right now and I worry if they will be screwed in a few years when housing declines. Large homes are not as popular with the current gen, people are more about smaller spaces/convenience these days.

Long term (like 30-50 years from now) I wonder if housing will be considered as the stalwart of investment as it’s considered now. Western population is declining, a lot of houses will be empty. Global population seems to be stabilizing versus the boom over over the last 100 years.

 

[Lasha]

You know a property market is out of control when a country slaps a 60% tax on foreign buyers and doubles the tax for buying a second home.

New cooling measures a pre-emptive move to dampen investment demand for residential properties: Desmond Lee

Interest from both local and foreign investors in the residential property market is starting to come back, says National Development Minister Desmond Lee.

www.channelnewsasia.com

 

[LimanimaPT]

Portugal here. It's really impossible
Who the fuck is buying and renting houses at this prices? What is going on?

 

[kikkis]

I get 31 square meter apartment for sub 500 euros. I get disability so, I don't even have pay it for myself. I think housing market is alright apart from capital, which has a lot of immigration. Rising interest rates put lots of extra costs and people buy less houses. Also Eu is in the process of mandating tens of thousands of repair costs to older houses in the name of climate change.

Like some posters here have said declining populations might make rent seeking behavior of investors less effective, but on the other hand they are usually lobbying for more immigration due to it.

I don't really have any bulletproof solutions, but I think land value tax instead of property taxes, less zoning laws, and less immigration could help. And central banks fueling asset prices with their boom bust monetary policies doesnt help either.

 

[MayauMiao]

Lex Luthor's father taught him well.

 

[Madserb2023]

Americans don't realise how lucky they are. When I hear them complain about house prices, same with petrol, I feel like they are living in a bubble within bubble. I was just watching a programme on a couple buying a house in Florida and could literally buy three houses out there, each one at least the size of where I live for the same price, and I live in relatively poor part of the UK. Wages are also higher in that part of Florida than where I live. Yes, when you are get near cities like San Francisco the prices go up dramatically but that is the same here. Get within 20 miles of London, and you will be paying $1,000,000 for a parking space.

 

[DKehoe]

I live in the UK and feel incredibly lucky to own my own place. Buying somewhere is going to be really difficult for the vast majority of people my age.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

I think relief may occur once boomers die out and their homes come to market, but still a long time away.

It won't happen, the increasing prices are a result of the flow to the cities increasing since the boomer generation, not decreasing. There just aren't enough apartments and houses being build.

For city like Paris it's kinda understandable - there is NO space whatsoever to put new buildings. However it blows my mind how prices are increasing in cities with empty plots that are available for residential development. Again - supply.

 

[gaming_again]

It won't happen, the increasing prices are a result of the flow to the cities increasing since the boomer generation, not decreasing. There just aren't enough apartments and houses being build.

For city like Paris it's kinda understandable - there is NO space whatsoever to put new buildings. However it blows my mind how prices are increasing in cities with empty plots that are available for residential development. Again - supply.

Young people are moving out of cities now though (which is why firmly staunchly Tory areas are flipping to Greens and Lib Dems).

The next 20 years might be very different to the previous two decades in terms of geographic demographics.

 

[Lasha]

I get 31 square meter apartment for sub 500 euros. I get disability so, I don't even have pay it for myself. I think housing market is alright apart from capital, which has a lot of immigration. Rising interest rates put lots of extra costs and people buy less houses. Also Eu is in the process of mandating tens of thousands of repair costs to older houses in the name of climate change.

Like some posters here have said declining populations might make rent seeking behavior of investors less effective, but on the other hand they are usually lobbying for more immigration due to it.

I don't really have any bulletproof solutions, but I think land value tax instead of property taxes, less zoning laws, and less immigration could help. And central banks fueling asset prices with their boom bust monetary policies doesnt help either.

Do you think you would have a different perspective if you weren't renting a studio on welfare? You're kinda insulated from the market. Saying it's alright except for capital ignores the biggest reason people rent: they can't afford the downpayment.

 

[kikkis]

Do you think you would have a different perspective if you weren't renting a studio on welfare? You're kinda insulated from the market. Saying it's alright except for capital ignores the biggest reason people rent: they can't afford the downpayment.

Well in away all citizens are insulated from market due to benefits toward rent if your income is small or not there at all. Now that money definitely goes from taxpayer to housing investors and ultimately raises prices. So rents could be even smaller without rent benefits. Now sure you can also argue that we shouldn't even pay disability but I don't see either rent benefits or disability disappearing until government bankrupts.

I detailed my reasons for price hikes and potential solutions in original post.

 

[BlackTron]

I live in Canada.

It is fucking BRUTAL.

With a capital B.

But the thing is, these houses are fucking selling. But to WHO!?!? Who is affording this shit? Banks are giving these people mortgages. And they are making the payments.

So I have no fucking clue whats going on behind the scenes. Must be a bunch of secret millionaires.

Rich people buy up all the housing and then rent them out.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Rich people buy up all the housing and then rent them out.

That's certainly happening in a lot of areas here in the states. Airbnb are everywhere

 

[Thaedolus]

Rich people buy up all the housing and then rent them out.

There absolutely is a problem with private companies buying up housing and “artificially” restricting the supply. On the one hand it makes it super shitty for anyone trying to buy right now, on the other hand it jacks up the value of the home I own now…

 

[gaming_again]

There absolutely is a problem with private companies buying up housing and “artificially” restricting the supply. On the one hand it makes it super shitty for anyone trying to buy right now, on the other hand it jacks up the value of the home I own now…

And the value of the next home you buy. So it makes no difference to you but screws over younger people.

 

[Lasha]

Well in away all citizens are insulated from market due to benefits toward rent if your income is small or not there at all. Now that money definitely goes from taxpayer to housing investors and ultimately raises prices. So rents could be even smaller without rent benefits. Now sure you can also argue that we shouldn't even pay disability but I don't see either rent benefits or disability disappearing until government bankrupts.

I detailed my reasons for price hikes and potential solutions in original post.

Welfare doesn't work like that. Based on your PSM rental is 1,500+ EUR per month for a small family flat. That could be quite troublesome depending on the rest of the economic situation in your country. When people say the market is bad they mean it is bad for regular working people who are being eaten by inflation and rent increases. You're not part of it because of the social safety net which is why I asked what you would think everything was ok if you didn't have free housing for life.

 

[BlackTron]

There absolutely is a problem with private companies buying up housing and “artificially” restricting the supply. On the one hand it makes it super shitty for anyone trying to buy right now, on the other hand it jacks up the value of the home I own now…

It seems like it's always going up for some, going down for others. Whether you are buying or selling, ride the wave.

Of course there are many other factors and logistics that affect the timing of when to execute on property than when to stash something in a closet or sell it on ebay. A good amount of skill, good judgement and luck is needed too

 

[Thaedolus]

And the value of the next home you buy. So it makes no difference to you but screws over younger people.

Well, that depends on where and when I decide to buy, if I decide to. Right now, I’m in pretty good control of all of those factors: my family won’t grow any bigger, my earnings should only go up in a field that pretty much guarantees me employment in the area I live, or allows me to be 100% remote, and on and on. So yes, it sucks for a lot of people and I recognize that and I actually think something could or should be done to keep private companies from jacking up the cost of living for every day folk just trying to get by. I’m of a mind that a rising tide lifts all boats and I don’t think just because something doesn’t necessarily affect me, nothing should be done about it. But also I’m pretty insulated from the effects due to some combination of luck and good decision making.

 

[F0rneus]

As a Canadian my house is worth 180000$ on paper but I could sell it for 350000$. I was told that by an estate agent because somebody was interested. So...make your own conclusion.