<story><title>Home Price-to-Income Ratios</title><url>https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/home-price-income-ratios</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>OJFord</author><text>Is property ownership a basic necessity though?&lt;p&gt;Or is its prevalence as an ideal a product of a burgeoning middle class through the last century?&lt;p&gt;I understand it&amp;#x27;s not even so common (or common as a goal) now in continental Europe, they think it&amp;#x27;s some silly English thing to care so much about home ownership.</text></item><item><author>Jaygles</author><text>I almost don&amp;#x27;t want to buy property as a protest to the horrible policies we have regarding basic necessities. Why should property owners be entitled to a major portion of my productivity&amp;#x2F;success? I&amp;#x27;ll rent the cheapest apartment I can find until the next housing crash or we have some sensible policy put through that negates the investment aspect of housing.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>JimmyAustin</author><text>Australian tax law is &lt;i&gt;incredibly&lt;/i&gt; geared towards home ownership, and the culture of owning your home is very, very strong. See &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Australian_Dream&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Australian_Dream&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;p&gt;Personally, most of the people in my age cohort (mid 20s) who&amp;#x27;ve bought homes, have bought in areas considerably further away from the city than they were raised.</text></comment>
<story><title>Home Price-to-Income Ratios</title><url>https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/home-price-income-ratios</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>OJFord</author><text>Is property ownership a basic necessity though?&lt;p&gt;Or is its prevalence as an ideal a product of a burgeoning middle class through the last century?&lt;p&gt;I understand it&amp;#x27;s not even so common (or common as a goal) now in continental Europe, they think it&amp;#x27;s some silly English thing to care so much about home ownership.</text></item><item><author>Jaygles</author><text>I almost don&amp;#x27;t want to buy property as a protest to the horrible policies we have regarding basic necessities. Why should property owners be entitled to a major portion of my productivity&amp;#x2F;success? I&amp;#x27;ll rent the cheapest apartment I can find until the next housing crash or we have some sensible policy put through that negates the investment aspect of housing.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>arebop</author><text>It is a basic necessity to have physical space in which to exist. Property ownership of course isn&amp;#x27;t strictly necessary; renting is a fine way to satisfy this need. But how can rent prices remain very far below the price to own?&lt;p&gt;In prior generations, rent was a way to express a preference about longterm vs. short term occupation of a given space, or it was a way for people with relatively little credit or capital to get access to space. But it seems impossible for purchase prices to perpetually outpace rent prices, and it is unsettling to imagine the fraction of the economy dedicated to land ownership growing perpetually.</text></comment>