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Comment by fabrice_d | Hacker News Reader

The benefit is that more people can afford to buy houses? Really surprising to see a country taking care of their people, and not just the wealthy ones!

All the hypotheses claiming that "the market pressure will improve things for all" have been proven false at this point. We have decades of data, and this is only widening the inequality gap.

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> The benefit is that more people can afford to buy houses?

Can they? I mean, what is your plan to lower current housing prices? Cut off demand from foreigners with purchasing power and instead replace it with demand from people who cannot afford a home? They are not even the same housing market, are they?

I don't see why this is better than people renting and investing their savings elsewhere, which is how it works with apartments anyway. So you own a house, it makes basically no return, now what?

where exactly does a house make no return, especially in say last decade/15 years? I bought three houses in the last 20 years, one doubled, one up 70% and one 40% (still occupying it)

In the US, not many places. But that's the complaint from some people.

give me some places where it is not and we’ll look at zillow or whatever public data there is for a given region. unless we are talking like rural-no-is-around-for-miles perhaps but otherwise properties over the last 10-15 years have appreciated

Do you not see how insane it is to at once 1) demand cheap housing and 2) demand it increases in price at breakneck pace?

I am not demanding cheap housing, I was only commenting on so you own a house, it makes basically no return, now what?

I'm saying that if they find a way to keep houses affordable to buy, they can't be viable investments. The US makes for a decent home investment market. You usually see a house price double every ~10 years once it's in a desirable area.

Btw, was your 40% increased house purchased 20 years ago? If so, that's effectively a loss, and I'm not even sure about the one that doubled. 5-10 years would be different.

Exactly, it's like complaining that gold is unfairly expensive. Those lucky Boomers got to purchase it at $40/oz in 1970 ($350/oz in 2025 money), now it's $2600/oz. I should be allowed to buy gold for $350/oz so I can profit like they did.

in 2050 when it is $13,764/oz kids will be complaining you got to buy it for $2,600

Is the only reason you see for home ownership price appreciation? This mentality is what’s wrong with speculative real estate!

Yes. I don't know how you can buy something and hold it for decades without calling that "speculation."

You buy it so you can live in it, I am also not speculating when I buy a cabinet that I also hope to keep for decades.

Living in a house doesn't consume it along with the land, hence the investment appeal. You can rent a house if you just want to live in it. I would totally rent a cabinet if that were a thing, but it's not because the value goes to 0 quickly.

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