<story><title>Over 13% of the homes in Japan are abandoned</title><url>http://flip.it/XKsblo</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>puranjay</author><text>Where &lt;i&gt;are&lt;/i&gt; affordable homes anymore in any big city in the world now? A good apartment in Delhi, India, is 4-6 times the annual income of a high income DINK couple with salaries in excess of $40-50k each (a big amount in India)&lt;p&gt;I can&amp;#x27;t think of a single major economic center that has affordable housing now.</text></item><item><author>TulliusCicero</author><text>Which is bad. It&amp;#x27;s possible it may end up benefiting me since my parents own a home in the bay area, but I still think it&amp;#x27;s bad.&lt;p&gt;The entire prop 13 + zoning + property value situation is terrible, it&amp;#x27;s a total pyramid scheme: older generations get wealthy through wealth transfers from the younger generation from inflating property values. But it can only work once or twice before the property values are so comically high that even high income DINK couples can&amp;#x27;t afford to buy in.</text></item><item><author>Kalium</author><text>&amp;gt; Move the story to California. A three bedroom home in the San Francisco Bay Area, covered by Proposition 13, purchased by ordinary working people with good financial habits, around the 1970 time frame, and a working late-thirties, early forties person with some savings and good financial habits, cannot afford to take the home under almost any circumstances due to property taxes (cost of ownership) and competition for financing (loans not available in practice due to terms).&lt;p&gt;California actually has ways to inherit not only the home of your parents and grandparents, but also their tax rate.</text></item><item><author>mistrial9</author><text>A modern Japanese man, working in tech in California, in his late thirties or early forties spoke with his parents back home in Tokyo five years ago about two houses the family owns, which are in desirable areas, well-maintained and currently occupied. The taxes and financing are such that there is no current scenario where the man could own one or both of these homes. It is simply too expensive. None of the people in this vignette are poor, they are all moderately wealthy people, who have fairly substantial income, and some savings.&lt;p&gt;Move the story to California. A three bedroom home in the San Francisco Bay Area, covered by Proposition 13, purchased by ordinary working people with good financial habits, around the 1970 time frame, and a working late-thirties, early forties person with some savings and good financial habits, cannot afford to take the home under almost any circumstances due to property taxes (cost of ownership) and competition for financing (loans not available in practice due to terms).&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of emotion on both sides of the Pacific in each of these cases. Individuals are quick to point fingers at the other individuals. It has been decades in the making, and the situation is not new. Many on both sides of the Pacific are renting at high prices (no accumulated capital) and deferring (or avoiding) having children.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>TulliusCicero</author><text>Tokyo has decently affordable rent relative to its size&amp;#x2F;level of prosperity. Compare it to NYC or the SF bay area and it&amp;#x27;s no contest.&lt;p&gt;Vienna &lt;i&gt;can&lt;/i&gt; be cheap to live in because a large percentage of the housing is the social&amp;#x2F;public kind.</text></comment>
<story><title>Over 13% of the homes in Japan are abandoned</title><url>http://flip.it/XKsblo</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>puranjay</author><text>Where &lt;i&gt;are&lt;/i&gt; affordable homes anymore in any big city in the world now? A good apartment in Delhi, India, is 4-6 times the annual income of a high income DINK couple with salaries in excess of $40-50k each (a big amount in India)&lt;p&gt;I can&amp;#x27;t think of a single major economic center that has affordable housing now.</text></item><item><author>TulliusCicero</author><text>Which is bad. It&amp;#x27;s possible it may end up benefiting me since my parents own a home in the bay area, but I still think it&amp;#x27;s bad.&lt;p&gt;The entire prop 13 + zoning + property value situation is terrible, it&amp;#x27;s a total pyramid scheme: older generations get wealthy through wealth transfers from the younger generation from inflating property values. But it can only work once or twice before the property values are so comically high that even high income DINK couples can&amp;#x27;t afford to buy in.</text></item><item><author>Kalium</author><text>&amp;gt; Move the story to California. A three bedroom home in the San Francisco Bay Area, covered by Proposition 13, purchased by ordinary working people with good financial habits, around the 1970 time frame, and a working late-thirties, early forties person with some savings and good financial habits, cannot afford to take the home under almost any circumstances due to property taxes (cost of ownership) and competition for financing (loans not available in practice due to terms).&lt;p&gt;California actually has ways to inherit not only the home of your parents and grandparents, but also their tax rate.</text></item><item><author>mistrial9</author><text>A modern Japanese man, working in tech in California, in his late thirties or early forties spoke with his parents back home in Tokyo five years ago about two houses the family owns, which are in desirable areas, well-maintained and currently occupied. The taxes and financing are such that there is no current scenario where the man could own one or both of these homes. It is simply too expensive. None of the people in this vignette are poor, they are all moderately wealthy people, who have fairly substantial income, and some savings.&lt;p&gt;Move the story to California. A three bedroom home in the San Francisco Bay Area, covered by Proposition 13, purchased by ordinary working people with good financial habits, around the 1970 time frame, and a working late-thirties, early forties person with some savings and good financial habits, cannot afford to take the home under almost any circumstances due to property taxes (cost of ownership) and competition for financing (loans not available in practice due to terms).&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of emotion on both sides of the Pacific in each of these cases. Individuals are quick to point fingers at the other individuals. It has been decades in the making, and the situation is not new. Many on both sides of the Pacific are renting at high prices (no accumulated capital) and deferring (or avoiding) having children.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sandworm101</author><text>&amp;gt;&amp;gt;I can&amp;#x27;t think of a single major economic center that has affordable housing now.&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s what makes them major economic centers: real estate prices.  The building, renovation, redevelopment, renting and investing of real estate ... that a massive part of the the modern economy.  Think Vancouver makes its money on tourism or lumber?  Fishing?  It is all down to industry that is perpetually-increasing land values.</text></comment>