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Starter homes cost $1 million in a record 242 U.S. cities—proof the affordability crisis has hit the homes meant for first-time buyers (fortune.com)
submitted 18 hours ago by to c/aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
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[–] 19 points 16 hours ago (6 children)

But who is buying? Also aren't the industrialized countries shrinking in population? Why are prices going up then?

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  • [–] 13 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

    In the West, the decline in population is offset by immigration so there is always demand for housing but limited supply. I don't know about South Korea, but in Japan, the houses really are affordable because of population decline.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 hours ago (1 child)

    in Japan, the houses really are affordable because of population decline.

    Isn’t that mostly in the rural areas only though? Because the old people are dying off and the younger ones are leaving to move to the cities.

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  • [–] 9 points 12 hours ago (1 child)

    Average age of first time home buyers is at 36 now (Up from 30 ten years ago). More than a quarter of them are over 40. About one-in-ten are buying entirely in cash from money they inherited when parents died.

    Basically, the only people buying are people who got help from their parents. Otherwise, it's all private equity and Mom-and-Pop landlords trying to build their little fiefdoms.

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  • [–] 5 points 11 hours ago

    Guilty. I got my condo at 43.

    I'm only able to afford it because I took a huge gamble in March 2020, borrowed from my Roth 401k at work, and put a few thousand bucks in oil stocks which I was able to hold onto for a couple of years because I didn't have any emergencies.

    It wasn't fuck you money, but it was life changing. Paid off my student loans and put the rest into a down payment on my home.

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