Comment by SamDc73
2 days ago
As long as houses are treated as an investment, there will be all kind of incentives to make them go up in value.
China did "over" solve it by building loads of houses, so everyone's house value just crippled down like crazy.
If buying a house delivers 5–10× the ROI of the S&P 500, that’s not “smart investing” then there is a huge problem to be addressed ... (preferably by building more)
5–10× the ROI of the S&P 500 - which is really only true because we allow massive leverage on real estate that we'd not on stocks themselves.
And leverage brings all the problems associated with it; if you own your house outright and it goes down %10 you're out 10%; if you only have 10% equity and the same happens you're down 100%. The gains, of course, work similarly which is why for so long it's been a heads I win, tails I win.
>China did "over" solve it by building loads of houses, so everyone's house value just crippled down like crazy.
That's not really a bad thing unless you believe real estate should be a vehicle for investment. However, in T1 and T2 cities asset prices are roughly on par with western major metro areas. However, property management fees tend to be lower. I suspect the Hukou system contributes significantly to keep housing affordable, and it's not just the massive supply.