What (if anything) should be done about housing prices?

Lack of land? With all of North Africa and the Middle East plus the Indian Subcontinent wanting to immigrate to the Uk, you guys better start moving back the Atlantic Ocean to make more land room or keep building those high tower residences. Pretty soon everyone will be walking and rubbing elbows whether they want to or not. I'm saying, you cannot take in the whole world. There just isn't enough room for everyone.
They're already here , they've been here for decades, and despite the fact we have nowhere to put them they still keep coming, day in day out.. illegal or legal... mostly the former .. I could say a whole lot more here but it would take into the Red Danger zone ( politics).. so I will refrain
 

The changes I've seen over the past 20-30 years in the landscape of Canada's population base due to immigration has been incredible. Looking at the 3 main cities; Vancouver, Toronto & Montreal, they are almost not recognizable anymore.

On the other hand, I have not seen a lot of immigrants making their way to Tuktoyaktuk or Iqaluit :sneaky:
Coming from any of those places mention, they would not last through their 1st winter here šŸ„¶
 
The changes I've seen over the past 20-30 years in the landscape of Canada's population base due to immigration has been incredible. Looking at the 3 main cities; Vancouver, Toronto & Montreal, they are almost not recognizable anymore.

On the other hand, I have not seen a lot of immigrants making their way to Tuktoyaktuk or Iqaluit :sneaky:
Coming from any of those places mention, they would not last through their 1st winter here šŸ„¶
The "immigrants" driving up housing costs here in Colorado are mainly from California and Texas. That's the paradox of promoting higher education; it gives you a highly educated workforce, so tech companies want to build their companies here, which creates more demand for tech workers, which causes people to move here for jobs...
 

What about cement and steel....have those costs gone up? I think those are hurricane resistant so should last forever
I'm not sure. There are only about a dozen steel mills in the US now, and there used to be about 100 so-called "mini-mills" but there's only a handful of those now. Most steel mills use scrap steel to make more steel, which is good, but they still use iron ore, too. I don't know if the ore is mined here or imported. That would effect cost.

I'm sure we totally produce our own cement. I haven't bought any in a long time, so I don't know if the price is wildly high or not.

The alternative building materials I was thinking of are resin-based ones and steel.
 
This "run up" in housing prices will not last. Once this pandemic loosens its grip on the nation, and supplies start returning to normal, there will be quite a few people who see the value of their recent house purchases decline.
 
I'm not sure. There are only about a dozen steel mills in the US now, and there used to be about 100 so-called "mini-mills" but there's only a handful of those now. Most steel mills use scrap steel to make more steel, which is good, but they still use iron ore, too. I don't know if the ore is mined here or imported. That would effect cost.

I'm sure we totally produce our own cement. I haven't bought any in a long time, so I don't know if the price is wildly high or not.

The alternative building materials I was thinking of are resin-based ones and steel.
We still have Trump's tariffs on European steel (25%) and aluminum (10%). We, not the Europeans, pay for that.
 
This "run up" in housing prices will not last. Once this pandemic loosens its grip on the nation, and supplies start returning to normal, there will be quite a few people who see the value of their recent house purchases decline.
I could only hope. I'm not so sure. This doesn't seem to be like the last housing boom mess where they were giving loans to everyone who shouldn't have got them and then they foreclosed in a couple or few years.
 
I do feel sorry for those newly weds looking for a home. I built a 1415 square foot home with a brick front for $25,000 Canadian back in 1975. Full basement with 2 fireplaces but no garage (that was built 3 years later at additional cost. We got a man to dig a hole for the basement and Redi-Mix to deliver the cement. It was a family project and we worked like the devil. My wife, my father-in-law, my mother-in-law and good ole' me. Talk about sweat! I did the electrical and the plumbing in the basement. Even did the roofing. Me a roofer? Can't believe I did it but hey, I was young and full of "zip and vinegar." Now homes this size sell for nearly a million. Maybe our money is becoming what some call "funny money" like the Germans had before WWII.
 
Too bad there are no answers to spreading out the US population.
We have plenty of land, but so many mountain ranges, deserts and lack of water issues.. (blue area)

Scientists want to go to the Moon and beyond, and figure out how to survive in those environments - why not attempt to tackle this problem?


iu
 

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