Here’s The REAL Reason You Can’t Afford A House 

Wealthy Chinese people have made Vancouver completely unaffordable for most Canadians.

What I am more angry at is not foreigners buying houses, it is that they do not even bother to rent them out thus causing housing crisis everywhere. A house/apt in an major urban center should not be left uninhabited.

So once again rich people are the source of the worlds problems.

The same people that write, "Move to a cheaper town." are the same ones who counsel, on a different topic, "Move to where the jobs are."

I guess GTA V had it right: "Will there soon be nothing left in America but reality TV and property that nobody can afford?"

10 year licensed appraiser + realtor here. All great points- Would love to be a guest on the show someday to really dig into to the current status of the housing market!

I'm am in rural Ohio and houses are way to high here as we'll. A old farm house built before 1900 and is not even livable. Under 1500 sq feet and never had running water or septic. Asking price. 108,000 That not a bubble. That is insane.

I have a feeling when we finally do something about the costs of living in America our crime rate will drop to Japan's level.

Here's the cycle. 1) Housing prices goes up. 2) It reaches an un-affordable peak 3) The housing bubble pops 4) economic recession 5) go back to #1

So when will all this shit implode so I can buy a house and live instead of just living to buy a house?

Real Estate agent here. Can confirm, housing from $0-200k, inventory is at an all time low. It has been extremely difficult to get buyers the homes they are looking for. So far, most have given up and I'm looking for rentals for them instead. About $250k+, there's enough inventory to go around. Anything above $400k is wide open. Lots to choose from. The median income for my state is $59,000 for 2016. How is the housing market becoming so expensive if not for what this video explained?

6 vacant homes for every 1 homeless person in the US

Same tend over here in Australia - insane prices and stagnant wages

I've chosen avocado toast over home ownership.

I'm a software engineer in LA and I can not afford a home. Well I could but I'd be spending the majority of my salary on housing. 😑

The same thing happens in Vienna / Europe. People work in Vienna and buy houses up to 100 kilometers away from the Austrian capital. They can't afford apartments in Vienna.

...so you're telling me it's NOT because I once had avocado toast? Unbelievable.

As a real estate appraiser who is working in Michigan but also has property in Orange County, CA, I would point out that new construction is still lagging. Almost nothing was built between 2008 and 2013. In those five years, population went up, older homes were condemned and made way for non-residential land uses, California's crazy fucked up property tax laws forced cities to prioritize commercial development to make up its budget shortfall, and we just didn't build enough houses. On top of this is the foreign investment, which is a part of the problem but not the main issue. The only thing that will bring prices down, or at least level them, is to increase the supply. Full stop.

Toronto has the same problem. It's extreme here. A house went for $1million over asking here recently. The condo I can see from my co-op window, is half-dark all year round.

This is why in Canada, they added a 15% tax for foreigners buying in Vancouver and Toronto.

Don't live in crappy liberal cities, you can easily find a nice house in Kansas for $100000.

Same in London. My mother kept a pile of housing advertisements all in Chinese. Nuts

Rich people are going to find themselves living next to empty homes that are vacation and/or investment homes, capitalism just gets better and better. Eventually 30% of the population will own everything and 70% will be impoverished .

in Hawaii we have been dealing with this for decades now... most mainland companies will buy homes here and then rent them out as luxury stays for people on vacation leaving no homes for the locals. it's actually illegal here but yet they somehow are getting away with it and many families like my own have to cram ourselves back into our parents homes with little to no hope of ever owning a home. we have limited land over here and this is becoming ridiculous and no home here is under 175k on my island that I can see and I have been looking for years

That's why in Mexico you have to be a Mexican citizen to own land keeps the prices affordable for the people

Same here in Canada. Chinese, East Asian and Russians own the land. 20s and 30s citizens live in their cars.

this is part of the reason why I'm moving out of Vancouver and back east next month

I'm claiming me some SQUATTER'S RIGHTS!

Ana Kasparian, there is an additional fact which you might not be aware of. This additional fact does not undermine the validity of everything you just reported here. Instead it is yet one more a factor in why the houses are so pricey. Back in 2010 and 2011, when neighborhoods all over the USA were peppered with "For Sale" signs and "Auction" signs , all of the banks (and I do mean ALLLLLLLL of the banks) resorted to a sneaky tactic which I don't believe is at all illegal, but it maybe should be because what they did had a definite impact on the pricing of houses all across America. What they did was they "un-listed" a goodly portion of all those empty, foreclosed house which simply weren't selling, and quietly took down all of the accompanying "for sale" signs. In short, they were literally hiding the existence of all those foreclosed-upon-and-totally-for-sale houses. I do not have any actual numbers (I mean I can't say they did this to 20% of all the foreclosed houses, or 30% or even 50%). All I can tell you is that they created what has been called a "shadow market" of hidden houses. This directly impacted the whole supply-and-demand dynamic: less houses available to buyers in a given area means higher prices across the entire area). This allowed the banks to control the prices of a given area at will. It also allowed them to pick and choose which houses they could roll out at different times, slowly keeping the entire market capitalization stabilized in an upward-trend which they had command over. I also want to add that there is in real estate a slang term for a really nasty, piece of crap house which is so deep into fixer-upper territory that it might actually be close to a tear-down. That slang term is "shit-house." The banks were hiding mostly the shit-houses during the initial phases of this "shadow market" conspiracy, and just showcasing the really sweet little creampuff houses that they knew would move quickly. I mention the whole shit-house aspect of this because SOME of the foreclosed houses back in the 2008 and 2009 meltdown were abandoned by the foreclosed homeowners and either A) the former homeowner left the house in a completely destroyed state, ir B) the house got targeted for keg parties and vandalism by teenagers, or C) homeless people began living in them and began inflicting damage (either deliberately or incidentally). Whenever either of those three scenarios happened, those houses often got tossed onto the "shit-house" list and were thus kept hidden in the "shadow market," and then any such shit-house-holding bank was able to back-burner such a house for a while until they could get around to repairing the house and putting it back on the market, or else razing it to the ground completely. And this, in effect was yet another factor in keeping pries high because the less shit-houses in an area, the higher the average going-price for a house in that area. When examined in full, this whole strategy by the banks does (in my estimation) qualify as a businessmen's conspiracy to covertly manipulate marketplace dynamics, and so it should probably be made illegal. I'm going to go to your FACEBOOK page and leave this identical comment.

The UK is having the same problem with our housing markets where foreign companies/corporations are buying up all the housing. They then put them up for rental and hike up the rental prices to gouge renters for more money. Rental prices are insane in some places now.

the US economy only works for the aristocratic class

One trick would be to restrict new development to 90% local occupied. 10% of the apartments would be luxury apartments for foreign investors, sold at a premium, and the rest can be sold or rented to locals, which would mean that the 10% of the apartments sold to foreigners would subsidise the construction of the 90% of homes that are occupied, and if the chinese/Russians move in, at least there are already shops and services for the existing residents.

I feel like I'm fucked regardless.

We need laws that make it illegal to buy property unless the buyer is a resident or citizen.

Rental property is also a problem.

This is a big problem in Florida. It's not just foreign investors, it's also American investors. They have been buying up all of the homes and then they put them up for rent and rent them out at ridiculous prices. Rental prices went up at an astounding rate just over the past five years. It's mainly a small group of wealthy investors who are buying up all of these homes. The people who bought the homes and are renting them out aren't even from the local area. On the "for rent" signs, they post a phone number to call and the area code is totally different from our local area code. The wages are so low in my area of Florida that I don't know how anyone can afford to rent these homes out. But they have nowhere to live, so they have to pay the jacked up rent prices. A lot of times they get kicked out after a few months because they can't afford the rent. They try their hardest but the rent is just too damn high. It's a very unfortunate situation for the working poor and middle class in Florida.

How about banning foreign investors from investing in housing market?Clearly,this huge cash flow doesn't benefit regular people.

This is not the kind of economic growth that we should promote!

meet your landlord who made the money selling junk goods thrown away long ago. You will never own a home.

squat in those unoccupied homes.... or burn them down. bring the property values back down... and increase the risk for investors.

You think that's bad? In London a semi detached is going for £1.5 million pounds yes not dollars 😩👎

I can't afford a house because my credit sucks. I can't get a loan let alone a decent one.

The US federal government should charge a 50% tax on the sale of real estate to foreigners.

Uhhhh, it's obviously avocado toast and iPhones.

A similar thing is happening here in Ireland. US based vulture funds bought up loads of property and are artificially driving up the price to make a killing. There are loads of vacant homes/apartments in dublin but very few available to rent.People are actually becoming homeless because of this. Those who can afford the high prices on the market have to fight crowds of people at viewings for mouldy,damp studio apartments. Its a disgrace

well... y'all wanted globalism right??

Thank you, EXCELLENT!!!. We are dealing with this crap in Ontario Canada too. I wish every TYT video was make in this format.

its hard to even rent an Apartment!!

Big cities need laws requiring all investment properties be occupied. At least let people rent them at market price.

More cons to owning a home than pros.

Another reason is: the banking system is underpinned by house prices. Dropping house prices undercuts the banks, so will therefore never be allowed to happen.

Maybe there should be an uninhabited house tax in order to encourage houses to be rented out if they are unoccupied. Could that help?

Canada is one country that took steps to protect its citizens from the high prices caused by foreign buyers. Canadians found themselves priced out of one of their favorite cities--Vancouver--all due to foreign buyers. Of course, if you can't afford to live in Vancouver, then you can't work there either. So Canada placed a tax on foreign buyers, making those homes much more expensive for them to buy, the result being that foreign purchases decreased and prices became more affordable to the Canadians that live there and pay taxes to support the country. Of course, our elected officials take money from foreign lobbyists so it's hardly likely that our govt would make a move to protect its citizens in any way.

Most of the housing in my area is bought up by developers and then rented out at very high prices...my whole suburb is basically owned by one company, every house that goes up for sale they pounce on the and throw a for rent sign out front. They rent out until the mortgage is paid, then evict the occupants and sell off to another developer who repeats the process.

How dare you question 'foreigners'. EVERYONE has a right to own a home in the United States - it says so on the side of the Statue of Liberty!!

I have a close friend from China and actually discussed this with her, she didn't realize how much this practice hurts normal people in the target markets. What she wants to know is why isn't there regulation to limit this behavior and why isn't there s requirement that the property actually be USED.

Said to be very true of Vancouver as well.

So in other words ,houses are unaffordable because the rich owns everything, don't even mention having to pay one home for you and one for the government as " property tax"

Explain to me why some people have enough money to buy a house and STILL have a mortgage.

I've just had to move away from Vancouver myself because the housing crisis has made the community itself toxic.

It's the same in New Zealand. Auckland's property market is seeing condemned properties not fit for anyone to occupy selling for $1million+. It's our largest city. Where all the jobs are, and yet no one can afford a house. My parents bought their own home at 19 for $32000. Today if I even had that much money in the bank as a down payment, I wouldn't be able to buy a house in one of our smaller cities. It's just not a thing that could happen.

It appears, from the comments below, that some people disagree just for the sake of being disagreeable. This is just one more outrageous slight to the American worker.

Reminds me of the upward spiral of prices in coastal Mexico thanks to Gringos leaving locals unable to afford their own home.

And they're concerned about foreigners coming in. Not if their rich apparently.

The price of homes was down just a couple years ago. I'm glad I saw this video. It was very informative.

in texas you can get a 4,000 square foot home for $300,000-350,000

the way things are these days you would be lucky to find a cave in death valley to own...

Property and school taxes are so expensive that it makes it less attractive to own while renting doesn't have those expenses. It's the abuse of tax dollars that is the problem.

In Australia, house prices have boomed - quadrupled - in the past decade. The government has introduced rules to limit investor purchases - you have to be an Australian resident and investors pay more interest than first home buyers. A small decrease in demand can have a big influence in price. But I feel more can be done - overseas investors are working their way around the rules. And about 10 years ago, the government raised the immigration quotas from 70,000pa to 200,000. On top of this we have about 70,000 457 visa workers here and about the same number of 'backpackers'. This doesn't help with accommodation/housing pricing or providing any of the needed 150,000 jobs.

It should be mild, but a tax on foreign real estate purchases might help the problem a little. At the very least Fed/states would rake in the money and we could fund schools and public transit systems properly.

Please ensure you are correct before blaming foreigners. Here in Toronto, there was the same conception of foreign investment until a poll was conducted showing only 5% of investors are foreign. Most investors here are just baby boomers who were able to buy up the housing market because they had the money before the bubble inflated. Although foreign investment can be an issue when the proper legal structure lacks, stating the issue is foreign investment is very dangerous as it further stigmatizes immigrants.

Thanks for taking this up! I posted on FB about the situation in NZ, which is exactly as you describe!

property ownership should only be for citizens.

You think it's bad in USA? In Toronto the average price is 1.2 million for anything within 100km of Toronto

I live in bumfuck WV, yet there are empty homes everywhere that are owned out of state. Either by renters or by the families of the original owners. The town is finally starting to fine the owners for not keeping them up to code and tearing down the ones that are beyond repair. But still, the land is owned by someone who doesn't want to sell because they aren't seeing the mess they are making and want to keep their 'investment' and now there are vacant, overgrown lots sitting everywhere that collect garbage and litter. One of the poorest states in the nation, full of empty beautiful homes, and homeless people wandering the streets begging for change. Tell me you don't see the problem here.

We need a resource based economy i.e. you pay exponentially more in tax for every home you own.

My home in a city about 30 min away from Vancouver? Cost almost $400,000, it's a townhouse, close to 1,400 sqft. Just ridiculous. Meanwhile my parents own a home about 45 min out of Vancouver that is just absolutely massive and it cost them a fraction of what my place cost. Now yes, they bought in the 80's but even so, the housing market is inflated WAY above inflation.

thank you for this informative and related to real life issue break down!

Same here in Australia. My wife and I are looking to move from one suburb to another, we already have a home (mortgage) but we can't compete with foreign investors, or local ones with 10 houses in their portfolio and making cash offers.

Once housing prices start to fall they'll sell and the resulting housing crash will hit the people who live there not the foreign investors.

My homelessness is entirely the fault of others. As of tomorrow, I will have been living in the NYC sheller system for five years. I have a master's degree, am medically limited to a desk job, and my last job was a minimum wage customer service temp job.

The real reason is money creation. Banks create money out of nothing, and are only required to have 10% in reserve (fractional reserve banking). Almost all of the money that banks create goes into investing in the housing market.

Pre-2000 there was a saying in Aspen Colorado that the billionaires were pushing out the millionaires. The millionaires moved into the bedroom communities which drove up the market too high for the average worker. The workers have to live farther away. No way property was attainable so I moved away in 2003 to the midwest for half the wages and was able to buy a home in 4 years right before the crash.

Fl is no exception either. We have rent in the $1000 and avg home price (now all town homes and condos), is right around 225k. However our median wage, most ppl work for the theme parks, is roughly 40k. It's unbelievable

This is sad, need an avacado on toast now; it's my third today

I live in Sydney, Australia and form part of the millennial renters. The housing crisis is a hot topic and although there are huge number of foreign investments in Australia, it's not the top/only reason for surge in house prices. We have seen increase in taxes on foreign investors but even if we cease foreign investments all together, low interest rate and tax concessions for local investors would continue to drive demand for properties more than current inflation. Our government hasn't addressed and refuse to change policies (reduce/get rid of negative gearing and capital gain tax discounts) that would actually benefit first home buyers. I believe it's easy to blame others for our problems, particularly Chinese investors. We need our government to stand up to the wealthy (locally and offshore) and start implementing policies that benefit 99% instead of the 1%.

So true. It's also one of the things making safe decent housing for the poor, more and more difficult. It drives up rents, which causes low income to be pushed to worse and worse neighborhoods.

RESEARCH and DATA. That's what I like to see in news.

Ontario goverment just proposes a foreign investor tax in Ontario fore real estate. Suddenly sales go down? I wonder why? Maybe because of all the foreign money...

young turks ... this is worth a segment as a point on comparison. This is a problem occuring in many countries. Ive heard its also going on in Berlin , which once had incredibly low rent

This is a huge problem in Hawaii. Most of us in our 30's struggle to buy.

In my town (right outside of Princeton, NJ) the all cash-offer trend is becoming a big issue. It's at the point where sellers are saying in the listings "Only cash offers". Realtors are telling buyers to not even consider certain areas if they are buying with a mortgage. The prices of homes are skyrocketing, and it's the first time in my life that I've seen bidding wars on homes here. People are paying up to 20% more than the asking price... who can compete with that?

We need to stop them from buying homes here! You should only be able to buy homes in a country you live in or, at least, are a citizen in...

Bet Anna owns a house

A record 107 million U.S. adults have auto loans, up from 80 million in 2012. There are more Americans with auto loans than with mortgage loans.

We have the same problem here in the UK. The answer is simple and several other countries already do it to protect their own citizens. You don't let foreign nationals buy property, or at the very least, only a single property if they personally intend to live in it.

TYT, you can't ignore the effects of NIMBYs--usually longtime residents--using zoning codes and parking requirements to constrain supply. Please do not chalk this up to "just supply and demand" as it is an economic distortion. If supply and demand were allowed to equilibrate, we would have far more housing where it is demanded: in cities and inner suburbs near transit and lower prices.

Why not ban non-citizens from purchasing and owning real estate altogether?

Maybe if he stopped buying avocados, he'd get that dream shed.

I'm totally facing this problem! IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY!