I see a lot of expensive houses being built in my area. A LOT. And the weird thing is that they’re being bought pretty quickly. Are these people just making more money than me? If so, what are they doing for a living? Or are they just living house poor? How exactly are they affording these places?
Edit: For reference, my neighborhood is starting to become popular (because the other popular neighborhoods have priced most people out of affording places there). The normal price of newer homes here is $700k. My home, built in 1965, which is 2500sq ft on a quarter acre of land, is $500k.
It was a lot more than 1% in 2008. In the US, 1% is 3 million people.
This discussion about renting vs owning and the overall real estate market are related but not the same thing.
My point is, owning isn’t always the best option, it has risks that vary depending on location, it isn’t always the best financial moving.
Always and never are rarely true. As I said in another comment, the ideal situation is a variety of housing options available for buying or renting.
Back in 2007, I was working on a contract that could have had me moving on short notice, in a housing bubble. Buying would have been insane in that market and I would have lost a few hundred k. Even if it wasn’t a bubble, buying would have put me in a worse situation than renting due to transaction costs, interest, insurance, taxes, and opportunity costs. I own now.