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uses | 8 months ago

No... the reason housing prices are high and rising is that not enough housing is getting build in the places people want to live. The main reason for that is that the people who already live in those places can block construction of new housing. That, and zoning.

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kjkjadksj|8 months ago

This is part of it yes. But after sufficient housing stock is built for the available working population, prices generally reach an equilibrium around median worker pay in the area. And if the median worker pay is now inflated by tech salaries and you are are still a line cook, you’ve been screwed. The construction market will not respond by making housing until it is cheap and unsold enough to be affordable on your line cook salary. The construction companies would sooner take jobs in more lucrative markets. If you are a line cook where most everyone in the area is paid about as much as you on the other hand, you can probably afford a local mortgage.

_DeadFred_|8 months ago

Housing prices in so many places are high because Californians, used to spending crazy high prices for property in tech spheres (or able to sell their property for crazy high prices because of the tech spheres) moved to other locations and caused property values in those areas to go up. Why is Hacker News trying to rewrite this?

pj_mukh|8 months ago

No one's trying to rewrite anything.

"Californians, used to spending crazy high prices for property"

Please dig into why that statement is true and re-read your parent statement. Your analysis can't just abruptly stop there. It all goes back to housing supply.