I keep seeing data showing that a huge share of people around 30 can’t afford their own home anymore, not just in the US, but in parts of the EU as well. It seems like homeownership at that age used to be normal, or at least achievable, but now it feels almost out of reach for an entire generation.

What’s strange is that, for decades, we were told that communism was terrifying because you would supposedly “own nothing,” yet it increasingly feels like the people who can’t afford anything today are those living under capitalism. And at the same time, mainstream messaging keeps telling us we’ll “own nothing and be happy,” as if that outcome is now simply expected.

If people can’t afford a home, how are they supposed to start a family? And without stable conditions for forming households, what does that mean for birth rates, future labor force size, and the long-term sustainability of pensions, healthcare systems, and public infrastructure? Are countries going to end up relying almost entirely on immigration just to maintain population and tax bases?

Curious to know what people think. How do you feel about all this, and what are the long-term consequences if these trends continue?

  • yaroto98@lemmy.world
    9·
    8 hours ago

    We are in a bubble. Several bubbles, actually. One popping will likely trigger the others to pop. One of the reasons we are in a real estate bubble is due to housing being used as an investment by large corporations. There are many empty houses sitting around like a stock earning value for shareholders. We are also in an AI bubble. NVIDEA is NOT worth over a trillion dollars, but that’s what the shares are priced at due to the bubble. People make the most money in a bubble riding it to the peak.

    Let’s pretend the AI bubble pops. Something happens, investors get spooked and start selling AI stocks off en-mass. The stock market corrects, and we enter a recession. This is normal and good, and to be expected. However, as company’s stocks lose value, they divest themselves of assests to keep paying shareholders, and sell houses while they still have value. This causes the Real Estate bubble to pop. As prices go down more and more corporations try to quick sell before the houses value drops below what they were bought at. Boomers die, and their kids place old homes they can’t afford to maintain on the market causing it to further collapse. Prices plummet to rock bottom. People who own multiple homes may also sell off the extras due to mortgages being owed for several times what the property is now worth. This has happened before and will happen again.

    This takes years, but houses will become affordable again. Lots of people will watch the falling prices and try to time the bottom. They’ll rent for another year or two and see the market get flooded with houses for sale. Some will buy too early and the prices will keep dropping. Eventually though things will get cheap enough that people will, en-mass start buying again and the prices will stabalize.