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Comment by kodah | Hacker News Reader

As an outsider and recent transplant, this tracks. Earlier this morning I was busy getting spammed on the Bay Area subreddit where redditor after redditor assumed I must have financial problems because I can't buy a house here. That is, in fact, not the case.

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The major problem in the Bay Area and other metropolitan regions is that the house cost / salary ratio has increased a lot.

Sadly, this is also the case in Europe, where most major cities that were a good deal 10 years ago are very expensive now. Even taking into consideration that tech salaries are way above average.

Another thread argued the Midwest is more balanced. What are other US areas with good universities and on-site tech job opportunities?

I'd say that the housing crisis is broader than that, but also agree with you. Even if you solve an inventory problem, there also exists a "commute to work" problem, whereby if I'm not rich enough to live near work then I drive over an hour or take complicated public transport (in the US). That far out, things also get more expensive and inconvenient, which creates another class-based issue.

I have empathy for the people solving these problems, because inevitably they're going to screw someone.

Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Phoenix

> Sadly, this is also the case in Europe, where most major cities that were a good deal 10 years ago are very expensive now. Even taking into consideration that tech salaries are way above average.

Yup, I've moved to Stockholm 6 years ago, house prices in this short period have shot up considerably, with a minor slump around 2018-2019 when some new regulations on credit were introduced. Still appreciating after that, getting more and more unaffordable for me even with a pretty nice salary in tech.

I don't come from a wealthy family, I don't have family money from a house sale that I could use as a downpayment. I will have to save a lot to cover a downpayment and then I will just add to the problem, getting cheap credit that will then inflate house prices. I feel completely trapped, getting into this game is personally beneficial but pretty detrimental to society in the long run.

Also, getting in the game in this all-time high feels bonkers, I don't think that timing the market is doable but it just feels pointless to embark on a 30-year mortgage without knowing what's the future in housing, simply because it already looks unsustainable this can keep going for another 20-30 years. Absolutely unsustainable.

Feel the same. I don't understand why a lot of people are rejoicing that the price of their house increases. Unless you move for something smaller, which people rarely do or you are a speculator, you have nothing to gain from ever increasing prices.

It's because housing in the United States is viewed as two distinctly different things under one umbrella. Housing is an investment, the loans (and collateral) of which are traded on the stock market. Secondarily, housing is also a domicile. When your investment goes from $400k to $2M over the course of 20 years that's a significant return on investment and can be the difference between retiring and not retiring.

I don't understand your first point. Could you please explain?

As for the second, you realize your gain when you sell your house at which point you need to buy another which price has also skyrocketed. So unless you end up renting or you buy a smaller house, those gains will be lost. Even if you buy a smaller house, the gain might not be that important as having to sell your own house that you took care for many years could also have a psychological effect... people think of those things in theoretical terms but selling a house is not like selling stock.

That's why my point is that rising prices should not be presented as a universal good news.

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