[maltyr]

I have wondered if the act of passing personal accountability for retirement to individuals is part of the cause of the housing affordability crisis.

I'm basing this on the assumption that, when given the option of "making ends meet" today and saving for retirement, most people put off retirement savings. If enough people do this, prices will stabilize on a 0% savings rate - basically paycheck-to-paycheck.

This assumption combined with the American mentality of treating homeownership as an investment means that people often take on as much housing costs as they can.