Housing Crisis

Did the Baby Boomers Ruin the Housing Market?

/ SupremeCmdr / 2 Comments

Close to 40% of all mortgages are paid off in this country. That’s mostly baby boomers.

That generation has the ability to sell their homes that are up like 500%, ignore 7% mortgages and buy in cash when they relocate for retirement.

I guess that makes sense but I would blame the unhealthy market on so many other factors before ever getting to the boomers.

Here’s my list in no particular order: The Fed, HGTV, the pandemic, remote work, the government (for not incentivizing the building of more homes), the Great Financial Crisis (totally screwed up the homebuilders), NIMBYs and Taylor Swift (her tickets are so expensive no one can afford a house).

If we want to fix the housing market, we have to build more houses.

It’s as simple as that.

6 Questions I’m Pondering At the Moment – https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2023/09/6-questions-im-pondering-at-the-moment/

Agree.

Cheap Houses and Awe Inspiring Tornadoes

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

You can afford to buy a house in Oklahoma!

Salt Lake City, often popular with younger homebuyers, has the largest share of mortgages offered to Gen Zers. With 16.60% of mortgage offers in the metro going to Gen Zers, Salt Lake City retains its No. 1 spot from last year’s rankings.

After Salt Lake City, relatively inexpensive Louisville, Ky., and Oklahoma City are the next most popular metros among Gen Z buyers. Respectively, 15.86% and 15.34% of mortgage offers in these two metros go to Gen Zers. Oklahoma City fell one spot from last year, while Louisville rose from seventh.

Most Popular Metros for Gen Z Homebuyers – https://www.lendingtree.com/home/mortgage/the-most-popular-us-cities-for-gen-z-homebuyers-ranked

New House Construction Supply Chain Mess

/ SupremeCmdr / 2 Comments

The inventory of new single-family houses that home builders put on the market for sale rose to 389,000 in October, the highest since September 2008, according to data from the Census Bureau.

Houses for Sale, Highest since 2008, as Construction Costs Spike Most in 42 Years, Projects Stall — https://wolfstreet.com/2021/11/27/whats-behind-the-huge-pile-up-of-new-houses-for-sale-highest-since-2008-as-construction-costs-spike-most-in-42-years-and-projects-stall
Does anyone else see a problem here?

Where Are The Starter Homes?

/ SupremeCmdr / 3 Comments

Pergens and his wife, Amanda, have a 6-year-old daughter and another child due this month. She stopped working as a pastry chef during the pandemic. They rent a small two-bedroom apartment. “We build all these fancy homes,” Pergens says. “Fancy, fancy houses … and low-income apartments. And there’s absolutely nothing in between.”

The Housing Shortage Is Significant. It’s Acute For Small, Entry-Level Homes — https://www.npr.org/2021/09/04/1033585422/the-housing-shortage-is-significant-its-acute-for-small-entry-level-homes?

Good article but the analysis is only partially correct. Affordable housing has been an issue for decades. It’s not merely an issue of current economic conditions. It’s a lack of political will and the continuing demise of the middle class. WAY BACK last century our starter home cost less than $100,000 and we had over 1600 square feet 3BR 2B.

It’s no wonder the newest hit show on HGTV is Cheap Old Houses. https://www.hgtv.com/shows/discovery-plus-home/articles/cheap-old-houses-hgtv-show

Barcelona Grapples with its Housing Crisis

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Even today, following months of political uncertainty in Catalonia, Spain is the second most attractive European country for real estate investment after Germany, according to the London-based real estate consultancy Knight Frank. For Spain’s central government this is a sign of success, and it has no intention of changing the law that helped fuel Spain’s rental bubble, in spite of all the damage it’s doing across cities like Madrid, Barcelona and San Sebastian.

The affordable housing problem is not limited to the US.

I’d usually recommend relocating to Oklahoma but…

Read these two articles here and here.

Barcelona Rental Market Is Out of Control

Rents up 50% since 2013, wages go nowhere, a third of residents earn less than €1,000/month.