Tag: Housing

1377: Thomas Sowell – Unaffordable Housing

W1377: Thomas Sowell – Unaffordable Housing
San Francisco Bay Area has one of the most expensive housing markets in the nation. However, as recently as 1970, Bay Area housing was affordable. Data from the 1970 census shows that a Bay Area family could dedicate 25% to housing and pay off their mortgage in just 13 years. By 1980, a family had to spend 40% of their income to pay off a home mortgage in 30 years; today, it requires 50%. It is precisely government intervention in housing markets which has made previously affordable housing unaffordable. Both the history and the economics of housing show this. —Thomas Sowell
San Francisco Bay Area has one of the most expensive housing markets in the nation. However, as recently as 1970, Bay Area housing was affordable. Data from the 1970 census shows that a Bay Area family could dedicate 25% to housing and pay off their mortgage in just 13 years. By 1980, a family had to spend 40% of their income to pay off a home mortgage in 30 years; today, it requires 50%. It is precisely government intervention in housing markets which has made previously affordable housing unaffordable. Both the history and the economics of housing show this. —Thomas SowellDownload Print Quality (7680×4020) 233KB  |  Normal Quality (3840×2010) 126KB
San Francisco Bay Area has one of the most expensive housing markets in the nation. However, as recently as 1970, Bay Area housing was affordable. Data from the 1970 census shows that a Bay Area family could dedicate 25% to housing and pay off their mortgage in just 13 years. By 1980, a family had to spend 40% of their income to pay off a home mortgage in 30 years; today, it requires 50%. It is precisely government intervention in housing markets which has made previously affordable housing unaffordable. Both the history and the economics of housing show this. —Thomas SowellDownload Print Quality (7680×7680) 372KB  |  Normal Quality (3840×3840) 181KB

San Francisco Bay Area has one of the most expensive housing markets in the nation. However, as recently as 1970, Bay Area housing was affordable.
Data from the 1970 census shows that a Bay Area family could dedicate 25% to housing and pay off their mortgage in just 13 years. By 1980, a family had to spend 40% of their income to pay off a home mortgage in 30 years; today, it requires 50%. It is precisely government intervention in housing markets which has made previously affordable housing unaffordable. Both the history and the economics of housing show this. —Thomas Sowell

1376: Thomas Sowell – Rent Control Laws

W1376: Thomas Sowell – Rent Control Laws
In Australia, not a single apartment building was built in Melbourne for years after World War II because of rent control laws. In a number of Massachusetts communities, no rental housing was built for a quarter of a century, until the state banned local rent control laws, after which building resumed. The lower rate of return on investments in new buildings causes fewer of them to be built. —Thomas Sowell
In Australia, not a single apartment building was built in Melbourne for years after World War II because of rent control laws. In a number of Massachusetts communities, no rental housing was built for a quarter of a century, until the state banned local rent control laws, after which building resumed. The lower rate of return on investments in new buildings causes fewer of them to be built. —Thomas SowellDownload Print Quality (7680×4020) 209KB  |  Normal Quality (3840×2010) 109KB
In Australia, not a single apartment building was built in Melbourne for years after World War II because of rent control laws. In a number of Massachusetts communities, no rental housing was built for a quarter of a century, until the state banned local rent control laws, after which building resumed. The lower rate of return on investments in new buildings causes fewer of them to be built. —Thomas SowellDownload Print Quality (7680×7680) 296KB  |  Normal Quality (3840×3840) 146KB

In Australia, not a single apartment building was built in Melbourne for years after World War II because of rent control laws. In a number of Massachusetts communities, no rental housing was built for a quarter of a century, until the state banned local rent control laws, after which building resumed. The lower rate of return on investments in new buildings causes fewer of them to be built. —Thomas Sowell

1350: Mary Ruwart – Laws That Prevent Work

F1350: Mary Ruwart – Laws That Prevent Work
A young drug dealer once asked for a job on a public housing project in San Francisco. He approached Chris Albert, president of Willie Electric Company, hoping to get out of drugs and into legitimate work.

A young drug dealer once asked for a job on a public housing project in San Francisco. He approached Chris Albert, president of Willie Electric Company, hoping to get out of drugs and into legitimate work.

Unfortunately, because of the high wages dictated by the minimum wage law, the contractor couldn’t afford to take a chance on an unskilled man with no job record. The young man came back two days later and begged to be employed at a lower wage. “I won’t tell the law,” he promised.
“I want to make a better life for me and for my mom, and for my little sisters and brothers.” Unwilling to risk legal problems, the contractor reluctantly refused.

Two days later the young man was shot and killed. Maybe he’d be alive today if the minimum wage laws had not prevented him from working instead of being on the streets.

—Mary Ruwart, Healing Our World

1229: Peter Schiff – The Housing Market is on Fire

W1229: Peter Schiff - The Housing Market is on Fire
The housing market is on fire, we have price increases that dwarf any previous records during the housing bubble that popped in 2008. —Peter Schiff, July 29, 2021
The housing market is on fire, we have price increases that dwarf any previous records during the housing bubble that popped in 2008. —Peter Schiff, July 29, 2021Download Print Quality (3840×2010) 5.08MB  |  Normal Quality (1920×1005) 250KB
The housing market is on fire, we have price increases that dwarf any previous records during the housing bubble that popped in 2008. —Peter Schiff, July 29, 2021Download Print Quality (3840×2744) 7.64MB  |  Normal Quality (1920×1372) 350KB

The housing market is on fire, we have price increases that dwarf any previous records during the housing bubble that popped in 2008. —Peter Schiff, July 29, 2021

1030: Henry Hazlitt – Predicted 2008 Housing Collapse

F1030: Henry Hazlitt - 2008 Housing Collapse
Government-guaranteed home mortgages, especially when a negligible down payment or no down payment whatever is required, inevitably mean more bad loans than otherwise. They force the general taxpayer to subsidize the bad risks and to defray the losses. They encourage people to buy houses that they cannot really afford. They tend eventually to bring about an over-supply of houses. They temporarily over stimulate building, raise the cost of building for everybody. May mislead the building industry into an eventually over expansion. In brief, in the long run they do not increase overall national production but encourage malinvestment. —Henry Hazlitt
Government-guaranteed home mortgages, especially when a negligible down payment or no down payment whatever is required, inevitably mean more bad loans than otherwise. They force the general taxpayer to subsidize the bad risks and to defray the losses. They encourage people to buy houses that they cannot really afford. They tend eventually to bring about an over-supply of houses. They temporarily over stimulate building, raise the cost of building for everybody. May mislead the building industry into an eventually over expansion. In brief, in the long run they do not increase overall national production but encourage malinvestment. —Henry Hazlitt

1011: Not More Taxes

W1011: Not More Taxes
The solution to society's problems cannot be more taxes.
The solution to society’s problems cannot be more taxes.