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Comment by monero-xmr | Hacker News Reader

Is this satire? I can’t believe having to wait 10 years for an apartment is a good system

Could your average American aspire to living in central Manhattan? No, but you can in Stockholm, just wait longer in the queue. There is a parallel free-market system - but like in every attractive city in the world, it is expensive.

Not central Manhattan, but the average American could absolutely manage to live in NYC.

You don’t have to, most people buy their apartment. If you don’t have the money when you’re young, parents tend to help out with the down payment. The more you get from your parents, the closer to the city center you can live.

I can see why this doesn’t work for everyone, and I wonder what kind of social effects it will have.

>parents tend to help out with the down payment. The more you get from your parents, the closer to the city center you can live.

Oh, so the "secret" to Swedish housing affordability is 'have rich parents'. Silly me, why didn't I know that sooner, I would have shopped around for richer parents. /s

>I wonder what kind of social effects it will have

The short term effect will be a much bigger class divide between those with rich parents and those without, basically a ghettoization of cities (which is already a thing in most EU cities), while long term maybe more social unrest, crime, political extremism, etc.

Simple, you pay through the nose the first 10 years to someone who already waited 10 years to snatch up something to sub-let out to you. Then you do the same thing to somebody else to get the money back.

That way you can pay the absolute highest rents when you're young and making the least amount of money.

When you're young you usually have very little income to afford the highest possible rents. It doesn't make sense to me.

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