Locked out: Why young Europeans can't afford to buy homes

6 pointsposted 10 hours ago
by rustoo
(euronews.com)

5 Comments

N_Lens

9 hours ago

I see a lot of narrow takes that describe problems in various spheres of human existence - environmental, economic, social, inter-generational, political, AI.

My opinion is broader - we're in the midst of a global transition. Hunter gatherer -> Agricultural -> Industrial -> Post-Industrial (Where we roughly are now in the developed world).

The next clear stage is either global civilization heading up the Kardashev scale or post-apocalypse. I hope and act in the belief it will be the former.

MiroslavPokorny

6 hours ago

Theres only one cause, everything else is a symptom, including the housing crisis.

Firstly technology has made changes in society, business and technology change for the good or bad, more rapidly. Everything is making adjustments, that more quickly, iteration happens at a pace that would have taken considerably longer.

Look at your local supermarket, today theres basically no competition, if one chain puts something up or down, the other almost instantly changes or adapts.

This is happening with everything. In the past there was more competition because one shop didnt know what the other aka its competition a few streets or across the country charged, so they actually tried to keep prices down. Today they know, this means they dont have to be safe and lower prices they can try and put them up.

This is exactly what we see from MacDonalds to the prices of oranges.

Everything is moving too fast.

user

9 hours ago

[deleted]

libertine

7 hours ago

One thing I don't thing I've seen reported yet is the new housing development, and taxes.

It looks like after 2008-2010 new housing development started target wealthy people, and not middle class.

Like the base cost of a house for middle class or for rich are probably the same, but the finishing is what allows for a higher price. That and location.

And looks like developers rather go for that, spend a bit more so then can justify asking for 100-200k more.

Governments don't seem to bother because this will be taxed, so it's revenue for them and politicians can claim it's the economy growing.

It's like reality is just a coated veneer that's cracking all over the place, and no one wants to take accountability for it, or do something about it because it's working for some.

The consequences this has for demographics and democracies will be irreparable for a long time.