Rent has never been less affordable, especially for the middle class
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Salaries are high basically only if you have switched jobs recently. My guess is that people who have stayed at their jobs through the massive inflationary period of the last 3-4 years are over-represented in this group.
Broadly speaking, I am not sure we want to be encouraging this. Having people stay in their jobs for longer gives them time to get good at what they're good at and makes companies more effective. Forcing people to move jobs (by implementing policies that create tons of inflation) causes a lot of inefficiency, because people are forced to move on to keep pace and lose 1-6 months of productivity when they adapt to a new position.
The other aspect is housing, of course. We simply don't have enough housing units which makes everything more expensive and tips the scale to those who own already.
- we need to build more housing, and that means up-zoning and reducing local control (NIMBYs blocking new construction)
- we need a land value tax.
States and the federal government should be building housing. Directly. Loss-leading, if they must. Sorry to the real estate magnates who would be impacted.
It's still "shortly after COVID", isn't it? Do you expect economic upheaval to occur over a matter of months? Talk to people in commercial real estate!
A few more people are working at home. Some people probably retired early. But how many other big changes has the average person really made?
More complex ways, combining many approaches to address these issues, work better still.
If you're a landlord, you can just force a $500/m increase on your tenants. Done.
Since everyone has felt the squeeze after the pandemic, those of us who represent a potential X% increase in monthly revenue to the person we depend on for the roof over heads are going to get squeezed on their behalf.
I dunno about that other commenter's theorized 'mass migration' overseas, but sheesh, a personal migration to Stockton is starting to feel pretty reasonable.
Only if there is a tight supply of housing, otherwise another landlord will accept a lower rent rather than have an empty unit.
The problem with rent is one of supply, not greedy landlords. Ask your local planning commission why they aren't approving more housing developments.
https://www.propublica.org/article/yieldstar-rent-increase-r...
Additionally, institutional investors have bought up around 5% of the SFH market so far, some estimates say they will own up to 40% by 2030. [1]
I would not be surprised if they already have significant pricing (signaling-)power and can already influence prices with just their 5% ownership, eg only Blackrock by itself.
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/21/how-wall-street-bought-singl...
All this to say: as bad as you think it is, it's worse.
It's way worse
The no one will pay an additional $500 in rent
CEOs Are Using Return to Office Mandates to Mask Poor Management
One can’t flip burgers remotely, do landscaping remotely, manufacture goods remotely, do farm work remotely.
It’s a relative minority those who can work remotely.
One option is Japan or Austria where even low level staff earn a living wage, but where everything is expensive for just about everyone and there is high employment as well.
Of course most employers want to import a subclass of workers who don’t get paid a regular wage and are happy to offshore and or import cheap labor instead.
You can’t eat your cake and have it, if you want high pay and low underemployment.
This is in theory, but I think that, unfortunately, most remote workers don't move and choose to stay in expensive overcrowded areas anyway.
The vast majority of the world is not on a laptop for their job.
Think about the state and city tax you pay as a New Yorker and just how miserable of an experience you get in return.
NYC is drowning in pension obligations and just plain mismanagement. For nearly two years post-COVID lockdown you still couldn't get any kind of interaction with any city services. The city courts are still backed up for years and years.
The city's infrastructure is collapsing, budget cuts are everywhere and every politician in the city is still crawling over each other trying to save their pet pork projects rather than do what matters for most of the people who live there.
GET OUT!
The Carolinas suit me just fine. Most underrated part of the country by far.
India? No, it's just you.
The U.S. pop. density is 87/mi^2, India's is 1097/mi^2. (according to wikipedia)
I don't think migration of humans revolves around population density.
source: wikipedia
Maybe if you are alone of a few people in the areait would be easier. But in reality I think that it would be hard specially with the harsh weather that climate change is giving us these days that will need some community and some infrastructure to survive.
I have a friend who left NYC for an apartment in Sioux Falls, SD and his landlord changed his lease terms and payment structure multiple times mid-lease, doesn't have individual utility metering and just bills everyone in the building what they want and even bills him for utilities that they don't provide.
Everyone in the building who challenged it was evicted on three days notice.
Sure, there are asshole landlords and renting always comes with its own tradeoffs. But there are a lot of places you can rent for much less than NYC if you don't need a local job.
Also its easy to forget the pathway in life afforded by living in a highly developed nation. Access to capital (mortgages etc)., preferred trading status (for example import goods are much more expensive in Brazil - accounting for foreign exchange), robust job market with competitive wages, strong regulatory environment (low corruption, enforced business/ financial laws) allowing business transactions to be fairly dependable, competitive offers for cell coverage and airlines and other infrastructure, (relative) certainty of safety, and access to a shared culture (for those from western countries).
Of course there are many low cost of living expats who remain attached to American institutions (such as banking), but en masse out migration to low cost of living nations? I think unlikely.
1. Significant migration from CA and NY to TX, TN, FL, etc. People make this about D/R politics, but it's really more about housing. The Rent is Too Damn High.
2. Net migration between the US and Mexico has been in the direction of Mexico for a few years now. Probably Trumpist xenophobia played a role, but I suspect that mostly It's the Economy Stupid -- partly that costs in the US are high, and maybe also partly that opportunities in Mexico have improved.
Why would you leave the country ?
Scranton, PA: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/933-Monroe-Ave-Scranton-P...
Lansing, MI: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1507-W-Michigan-Ave-Lansi...
Oklahoma City: OK: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6900-Elk-Canyon-Rd-Oklaho...