Back in the day, when I purchased my first home to live-in; that was Miami in the early 1990s, first mortgages with rates of 8 to 9% and 9% to 10% were typical. People will have to accept the possibility that we won't ever return to 3%. If sellers must sell, home prices will have to decline, and lower evaluations will follow. Pretty sure I'm not alone in my chain of thoughts.
If anything, it'll get worse. Very soon, affordable housing will no longer be affordable. So anything anyone want to do, I will advise they do it now because the prices today will look like dips tomorrow. Until the Fed clamps down even further, I think we're going to see hysteria due to rampant inflation. You can't halfway rip the band-aid off.
consider moving your money from the housing market to financial markets or gold due to high mortgage rates and tough guidelines. Home prices may need to drop significantly before things stabilize. Seeking advice from a financial advisor who understands the market could be helpful in making the right decisions.
Carol Vivian Constable is the licensed fiduciary I use. Just research the name. You’d find necessary details to work with a correspondence to set up an appointment..
It is difficult to make exact projections for the housing market as it is still unclear how quickly or to what degree the Federal Reserve will reduce inflation and borrowing costs without having a substantial negative impact on demand from consumers for anything from houses to cars.
If anything, it'll get worse. Very soon, affordable housing will no longer be affordable. So anything anyone want to do, I will advise they do it now because the prices today will look like dips tomorrow. Until the Fed clamps down even further, I think we're going to see hysteria due to rampant inflation. You can't halfway rip the band-aid off.
The new mortgage rates are crazy, add to that the recession and the fact that mortgage rules are getting more difficult, and home prices will need to fall by a minimum of 40% (more like 50%) before the market normalizes. For now, get your money (as much as you can) out of the housing market and get into the financial markets or gold. If you are at a cross roads or need honest advice on the best moves to take now, it is best to seek an independent advisor who knows about the financial markets
My CFA ’’ Jessica Lee Horst a renowned figure in her line of work. I recommend researching her credentials further. She has many years of experience and is a valuable resource for anyone looking to navigate the financial market..
If anything, it's likely to get worse. Affordable housing will soon become unaffordable. Therefore, I advise taking action now because today's prices will seem like bargains tomorrow. Until the Fed takes more decisive action, I expect we will see hysteria due to rampant inflation. You can't just halfway rip the band-aid off.
I suggest you offset your real estate and get into stocks, A recession as bad it can be, provides good buying opportunities in the markets if you’re careful and it can also create volatility giving great short time buy and sell opportunities too. This is not financial advise but get buying, cash isn’t king at all in this time!
Home prices will come down eventually, but for now; get your money (as much as you can) out of the housing market and get into the financial markets or gold. The new mortgage rates are crazy, add to that the recession and the fact that mortgage guidelines are getting more difficult. Home prices will need to fall by a minimum of 40% (more like 50%) before the market normalizes. If you are in cross roads or need sincere advise on the best moves to take now its best you seek an independent advisor who knows about the financial markets.
Melissa Elise Robinson is the licensed fiduciary I use. Just research the name. You’d find necessary details to work with a correspondence to set up an appointment..
As always, Dr Wolff is spot on in his analysis and call to action. The corruption and evil in this country have reach epic proportions as summarized here. There is simply no human decency in the system!
Unfortunately, he didn't mention any SPECIFIC economic causes of sky-high housing prices today....like, 1. Massive levels of immigration, both legal, and especially now under Biden, illegal. Mass immigration ALWAYS drives prices and rents up! 2. The massive creation of $10 trillion in 'fake' money in the past 4 years has largely ended up in the hands of Wall St. & 'private equity', allowing them to snatch up, (and drive up the price of), trillions of dollars worth of real estate.
thank you for addressing this topic, I look forward to more videos on this topic. i'm single, I am 42 yrs old, i have a bachelors degree, i have very little debt, but i have had to resort to live full time in my van for years because there are no affordable options anywhere in the country.
I moved out of the US/West for this issue... my issue is that we can pay off our homes after 30 yrs.... and the government will evict us if we cannot pay the taxes. this is dehumanizing as the sheriff force thier way into the house, sit all your belongings on the sidewalk and put a pad lock on the door! no help from social services to help find another home. No now we have to find a tent, alley, or bench to live. Only in the West i find this to happen
This is American freedom, democracy and human rights . I feel for you people, it shouldn't be for a rich nation, but unfortunately your politicians are corrupt
Untold billions of dollars to Israel and Ukraine,but nothing for American citizens in need of help.Warped priorities!Yet China is criticized fo building too many houses for future growth.The priorities of the Chinese government is for the people,as opposed to the militaristic priorities of USA.
The Chinese did not get it right, either. Have you not seen the videos of the empty buildings left half completed because no one wanted to live in them or could afford to lease or purchase the units?
If just one person can wake up to the basic math in your example, it's a win. So many of my friends (my doctor, chiropractor, dentist & others, e.g.) are shocked to learn that 1 billion is one thousand millions and that a trillion is one thousand billions. Some even say Musk 'earned' the money he gets to keep.
I have been teaching this to my Grandchildren for years when I began to see the writing on the wall. Corporations are purchasing blocks of houses and as my Grandson states more "people cages" are being built (apartments) in communities. This is being done deliberately. I would advise for parents and others to have family Trust plans to help the younger generation mitigate the housing damage being done.
To be fair, apartment complexes do make more efficient use of limited space than single-family houses. But we need the state to build a lot of affordable housing, like Khrushchev did in the USSR, because land lords - who are practically the descendants of feudal lords, who sit atop [or at the bottom of] the hierarchy of parasites, higher [or lower] even than the capitalists and the hedge fund managers in the bloated finance sector, stealing from working people - will not do it. They've shown that they will not do it. The public purpose is not in alignment with the profit motive.
@@TulacloneAh, NOW there, the Western countries want to build walls! They're also making it impossible to move away by other means.... To get to one world.
My county just had a new property assessment for 2024. My 2 bedroom house in a cornfield increased 33% in one year. So I asked for a reassessement because the model uses size of property and square footage. Nothing concerning the amount of work that the house needs. I made noise because this puts a starter home out of reach for young families. I am old. Another $100 in taxes is not going to break me. But this type of thinking is going to break the economic engine in our country. We need to make sure that people can afford housing at the lower end of the market.
Assessors have a tendency to overvalue housing units (which depreciate over time) and underassess land values (which increase over time if there is population growth in an area). Assessors also have a tendency to underassess vacant land even more.
So they can say it doesn't work and get rid of it. Politicians have been using that trick for decades, probably longer. They intentionally fail to address problems and then say: "See, government doesn't solve problems." Fuckers.
Lower assessments will ensue if sellers are forced to sell, which will force property prices to drop. I now see the stock market as a means of achieving my millionaire ambition. Yes, I'm not the only one thinking this way.
Both are appealing to me. However, based on my observations, the majority of billionaires I know became wealthy through a variety of investing strategies, and each one of them had some form of advisor to assist them in making wise choices.
Yes, advisors are the best representatives for investing positions-straight up! It's how I've survived for the past five years, making about $1 million in return on my hundreds of thousands of dollars invested. In my opinion, a 40% decrease in property prices is necessary before the market returns to normal.
I'm screwed-real estate prices and interest rates have skyrocketed, while my pay has remained unchanged! Would you mind telling me who your advisor is, if I may ask? desperately need to allocate assets properly
I advise you to check up *Leah* *Foster* *Alderman* as she goes by. I'm glad I decided to let someone handle expanding my finances even though, to be honest, I almost didn't think I should.
Yes. He tries. And he is sincere. But he misses a big part of the problem by not explaining that the conventional property tax is bad for housing and good for land speculators. Exempt housing units and tax only land value and the problem is largely solved.
Correction: there aren't enough affordable homes in DESIRABLE neighborhoods. There are plenty of affordable homes in my city, unfortunately they're all located in areas with high crime and very poor schools.
That's a circumstance particular to your area. Houses in terrible neighborhoods here in Seattle still sell for 350-400 plus and 1 mil plus for nice neighborhoods studio apartments on the bad side of town are still around 1800-2000 a month. This country is on the brink of mass homelessness.
Start early with diversified investments in stocks, bonds, and real estate. Maximize contributions to tax-advantaged accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs. Regularly review and adjust your strategy to ensure security....
People dont understand that the prices of things are never going back down. This inflation is deeper than we think. Those buying groceries are well aware that the real inflation is much over 10%. The increments dont match our income, yet certain investors still earn over $365,000 in stocks and assets. Wish I could accomplish that.
Very possible! especially at this moment. Profits can be made in many different ways, but such intricate transactions should only be handled by seasoned market professionals.
Some persons think inves'tin is all about buying stocks; I think going into the stock market without a good experience is a big risk, that's why I'm lucky to have seen someone like mr Brian C Nelson.
It is during the last 30-40 years of that housing crisis that human development digessed. The problem lies in the fact that a house cannot be a home when it is not a house to begin with in the form of a commodity. The owner of the house and property is never the person living on the property until the house is paid off or gifted. One bank may own millions of houses but millions of people are homeless because of one bank.
We've been HERE BEFORE. In the 1930s they put in a law to prevent Banks becoming or at least separating investments from deposits. From Bill Clinton's days it was removed and now Banksters... We have been HERE BEFORE. Right wing Governments with Nazi agendas on the RISE. Moustache man will emerge from one of the MANY brought to power and Banksters... There's more... BEFOREs I mean..
Lenders are necessary only because the price of a modest home is still far more than a household is able to save for in a reasonable amount of time. Part of the problem is our property tax, which undertaxes land (causing land to be a great asset to acquire for speculation) and overtaxes housing units (which depreciate over time and cost a lot to maintain).
@@nthperson Capitalism is a temporary stage of human development. Nothing in capitalist social relations (taxes, speculation, price) is a historical necessity humanity cannot live without. Nothing.
@@nthperson The history of banking dates back to ancient civilizations. Capitalism is only roughly 600 years old. People have been building homes for thousands of years without mortgages on their property. Finance capitalism began in Europe in the 1700s but in America it began with the Steam Jenny in the 19th century and full blown mortgaging property began after WWII with the GI Bill, the Great Depression was banks taking property and this gave rise to the powerful financial banking system and propertyless Americans.
@@MrDXRamirez No doubt. The story is complex. I am right now in the middle of teaching a course titled "A Brief History of Money, Banking and Credit" in which I do my best to bring together the thinking of the best minds on the subject of what changes in our socio-political arrangements and institutions would result in sustainable use of the planet while protecting individual incomes from inflation. As for the term "capitalism" the system most societies live under is better thought of as evolving from the agrarian landlordism that began to change after the last Crusade (and in Britain with the signing of Magna Carta). Agrarian landlordism changed but did not disappear. By the middle of the 19th century the game was pretty much set. We had come to agrarian, commercial, industrial and financial landlordism. The wealth distributional effects worsened in every country as more and more of the commons was brought into private ownership. Recommended reading: "The Power In The Land," by British author Fred Harrison. This is just one of about a dozen books he has written that are worth you time.
Mr. Wolf is failing to make an important and critical distinction: The “Housing Crisis” isn’t so much a failure of capitalism in and of itself: It is a colossal failure of neo-liberal economics (aka “supply side economics,” or “trickle down economics,“ etc.) first introduced by Ronald Reagan in 1981 and greatly expanded by Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. To cut to the chase: The United States under Ronald Reagan began de-industrializing and financializing the US economy in the 1980s. To break the back of those pesky unions who were demanding too much for their members, manufacturing and industry was shifted overseas where the cost of foreign labor was cheaper. Not only did this greatly reduce manufacturing costs, but it also destroyed the political power of organized labor and the working class in general. If a union was causing trouble for a factory owner, he could squelch the problem by either threatening to move operations either overseas or to a “right to work” (i.e. anti union) state. With the unions beaten into submission, wages were suppressed and have remained stagnant or decreased over the past 40 years. By recklessly and indiscriminately eliminating carefully thought out government regulations that were put in place over the years to check abuse, Reagan, Clinton and Bush 43 opened the floodgates for economic and political abuse. Instead of building and making things of intrinsic value to generate wealth, the United States monied class started making its money by manipulating money instead. Wealth was now generated by extracting economic rents (financial services fees, mortgage interest, credit card interest, student loan interest, land rents, intellectual property licensing fees, insurance fees, arbitrage, asset inflation, etc.). Getting rid of the factories also meant getting rid of the overhead associated with those factories (labor, buildings, manufacturing equipment, workman’s compensation, etc.) which translated into increased profits. But how does all this relate to unaffordable housing? By controlling wages and housing supply, the price of housing was bid upward. Tremendously. And as long as the cost of housing was bid up, wealth (in the form of mortgage rent) was generated. This was aided and abetted by artificially low interest rates. If interest rates are kept low, housing prices could be jacked up. By restricting the supply of housing, the price of housing assets can be kept artificially high. Building more housing (as straight capitalism would indicate as the remedy) should in theory decrease the price of housing, but it would also decrease the asset value held the mortgage lender and decrease his (unearned) income and wealth. For that reason, the supply of housing is kept low enough so that the price can be bid up. THAT is why the price of housing keeps increasing for no good reason and is unaffordable. In summary, the incentives of neo-liberal economics are perverted. Wealth is generated by manipulating money and collecting economic rents rather than producing real things that people want to buy. By squelching organized labor and keeping wages suppressed, political opposition to these repressive policies can be effectively controlled. This economic perversion did not exist prior to Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Capitalism that is regulated and controlled to prevent abuse stimulates economic activity and makes everyone wealthier. Capitalism that is unchecked and abused becomes a Ponzi scheme and a means of political control and repression. Ronald Reagan is the root of all evil. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush (43) merit dishonorable mention. Those are the people who principally wrecked capitalism in the United States.
Neo liberalism and the cruelty we impose because of it are invisible to the Americans. They have no politics. They're left out and they're okay with that.
I agree with you on most points except for the "greatness of the factories". I live in the "Rust Belt" and the pollution is horrific. Manufacturering made a terrible comeback. We do indeed make things but at a too high cost. Cancer is rampant because of this. Much of this problem to include even the Housing Crisis comes from warped WASP values and "ethics."
Look deeper. Look at the land market. It is the gross under-taxation of land value and the over-taxation of housing value that is at the bottom of the crisis of affordable housing. Exempt housing and move to a land-value tax base and the market will respond. Land prices will come down and come down dramatically, making is much easier to construct affordable housing.
@@nthperson no difference will happen. The usury will be transferred to land instead of just housing. You don't know your own people? Shelter is a human right, not a mode of wealth. Land as well.
*2 of 2. This is how you always need to vote:* We must fully resist and _always vote_ against (& less authoritarian than) both the Democratic *and* Republican Parties- including Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, Rand Paul (He’s _no_ Ron Paul), Thomas Massie, Warren Davidson, Ron Johnson, and all other Republicans. Vote in every single election- at all levels. And also _endorse or anti-endorse,_ in all elections you can, for outside your voting jurisdiction. For _all_ public positions. And this same strategy applies against the same one or more party-monopolies in _all_ countries worldwide. Real libertarians will never be Republicans or Republican loyalists. Never vote for _any_ Democratic member or loyalist either. If no candidates for a position fit that bill: -Where _write-ins_ are permissible, always write-in an anti-authoritarian person; -Where write-ins aren’t permissible, always vote uncommitted or leave the ballot blank. This will continuously reduce the power of _all_ authoritarian parties in the party monopolies. Until our task is complete. Repeat strategy for all new authoritarian parties that emerge.
*1 of 2. This is how you always need to vote:* We must fully resist and _always vote_ against (& less authoritarian than) both the Republican *and* Democratic Parties- including AOC, all of the squad, Bernie Sanders, Edward Markey, Mark Pocan, the justice democrats, Biden & all other democrats. Vote in every single election- at all levels. And also _endorse or anti-endorse,_ in all elections you can, for outside your voting jurisdiction. For _all_ public positions. And this same strategy applies against the same one or more party-monopolies in _all_ countries worldwide. Real progressives will never be Democratic Members or Democratic loyalists. Never vote for _any_ Republican member or loyalist either. If no candidates for a position fit that bill: -Where _write-ins_ are permissible, always write-in an anti-authoritarian person; -Where write-ins aren’t permissible, always vote uncommitted or leave the ballot blank. This will continuously reduce the power of _all_ authoritarian parties in the party monopolies. Until our task is complete. Repeat strategy for all new authoritarian parties that emerge.
I feel compelled to assume that our government has a vested interest in homelessness. In this country with what we can do, there's scarcely a more logical explanation.
I have noticed recently that the English-speaking world; AU, USA & UK have the same two-party shit show politics right now. They are all owned by the same fuckers.
If housing costs went down, demand for jobs would suffer and people would have spending power. Never again! Americans stood up against the war in Vietnam last time they were okay. Never ever again.
Mortgages are outrageous. In 5 years we will pay 13000. to principal and 87, 000.00. to everything else a 192,00.00 loan will cost you 400,00 in the end
The capitalism you're talking about has been disrupted by regulation. How about removing some of those and making building houses easier to do? How about removing stupid ideas like Housing First that dont want to house people in tiny houses because that's just not good enough, even though they want the government to pay for it. So we wait for "affordable" housing that cost $800,000 a unit in CA! Ridiculous.
What right would you have to take Elon Musk's wealth? Is your argument that he has too much, like the Delaware court insists as they try and take his well earned compensation package which was performance based? He would have gotten nothing had goals not been met. No other CEO pay is based on performance, they just get it. Your philosophy of taking other people's money because you Feel they have too much is ugly AND unfair. It's not like he didnt create some of the most amazing advances we've seen in our lifetime. The employees did not do that by themselves.
Why Elon? What about Jeff Bazel? What about ALL the football team owners? What about all the casino owners? What about all the Hallewood tycoons? What about the interest on the Clintons' assets, Obama's, Pelosi's, Mitch McConnell's, Mit Romney's, Trump's, etc?
There is actually an oversupply of housing. The reason/problem is simply that there is a price floor based on both greed and building costs. If you want to fix this, you have to put existing house/investment owners under duress so supply and demand can return to normalization.
@@DanFeldmanAgileProjectManager Price floors in real estate are set in many different ways. The most common is the "reserve price", that is the minimum price you will accept for the sale of your property. If you look at house sales in my area, an average of 60% are passed in. Meaning 60% have been withdrawn from sale because the owner does not want to sell the house for less than that. So while homes are selling for more value, less of them are being sold because they have reached the price floor of the reserve price. If you wanted to let houses fall into the equilibrium of demand and supply, then you would remove reserve house pricing from house sales. This floor is one that is highly manipulated for many reasons, but at a street level it's because the seller wants to maximize his sale and is under no duress or incentive to really sell the home for less. This is also a main factor of why inequity is growing. People with homes fully paid (1/3 of people in my country who and generally over 50) are under no pressure to sell there home. In most cases because the asset outperforms any other investment they are better refinancing or using the capital to pay down a pension. Price floors in new construction exist because in western world we have made it so regulated and expensive to build that even a caravan now costs an insane amount of money. So if you want to fix the new build market, then you need to remove all the compliance and make building a house as cheap. The bottom line is for housing to maintain a standard, be environmentally friendly, utilize sustainable technologies, be fire and tornado rated, we have price the average person out of the market. There are also many reasons why investment properties have real estate price floors, but for now I hope this helps...
@@DanFeldmanAgileProjectManager WTF I responded to this and now its gone.. seriously censorship here is our of control. Reserve price is and example of price floor. Around 60% of houses are passed in due to price not making reserve
Professor Wolff. The problem with the housing poor is unstructured minds and people unravelling in the face of adversity. True. The people lack money. True. Life is now unaffordable in US. You need to sit down with the real estate billionaires in control in a roundtable discussion and brainstorm to find solutions. I would be willing to participate online. I work in the field of real estate now but I started off as a lady engineer, then a teacher for adults and youth. So I understand how poor adults think. And, I agree. You need to encourage affordable construction of housing in the USA.
I’ve been an architect for 30 years focusing on affordable housing. Between the draconian zoning ordinances, the hostile climate for building permits and the recent Supreme Court ruling criminalizing homelessness, I now consider the US to be a failed state and it’s government to be illegitimate. Revolution is the only solution.
Some seemingly good first idea solutions backfire and so thinking out of the box more, the government could build villages of very simple, fully recyclable units, rather small but you are asked to not bring in much and to put valuable things outside in guarded lockers. At all time a security staff would guarantee safety . Cooking is not necessary since one can buy healthy meals cheaply provided. Washing clothes can happen locally too. The house owners could not complain about unfair competition since the comfort level is very different.
Nope. The apartments and condos being built are luxury only, priced for the affluent only. Developers insist on the maximum profits which come from luxury construction. Nothing to do with zoning whatsoever.
@@CarlGerhardt1 I live in a million dollar condo, but I didn't pay for it. My parents bought it for me. My friends who live in first tier cities China live in condos that cost a million USD, and their parents bought it for them as well. The difference between them and me is. I have to pay property tax, and home owners associate fees. I have to come up with $20,200 just those two things.
I agree with the rest of the commentators. The United States is criminally deficient in addressing the needs of the citizens who live in it. Modern, basic needs that boost our living standards and quality of life: housing, education, and healthcare. Also, again with the great hats!
Many Americans scoff and laugh at housing in Asia-- it is mostly small usually wooden affair. Americans wants mansions and well -done housing-- ending up with tents and mobile homes!!
The mounting failures of this system are really something to behold. The only thing more baffling than the failures of the system is the fact that it is completely outside the realm of acceptable discourse. It isn't just the political system and media that are incapable of discussing it, normal people are by and large still unable to bring themselves to see that capitalism is simply incapable of producing the outcomes that they want to see. As always it is enormously helpful to have Richard Wolff's concise and clear insights on the issue, but I would say at this point we don't need him; everyone can see, whether they are willing to admit or not, that our system is simply not capable of managing the growing number of crises we are faced with.
100%. There is a complete oversupply of homes. The idea that there is a demand shortage is bullshit. The issue is greed/profit has set a price floor in the house market with the ability to offset economic hardship with refinance on the asset.