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Comment by lazyjones | Hacker News Reader

> If housing costs went way down and health insurance were universal, I suspect many people would feel much less need to work so many hours.

Housing costs are directly related to the area per person and the location. If people expect to live in much larger flats or houses compared to e.g. the 19th century and in expensive urban areas, they will have to pay the price.

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> If people expect to live in much larger flats or houses compared to e.g. the 19th century and in expensive urban areas, they will have to pay the price.

Your comment could only make sense if you believed housing prices were dictated by construction costs. They aren't. Prices are set based on what is the highest price tag sellers are able to force upon the customers. Buyers also wanto to push the value down but sellers, due to the nature of real estate properties and taxes, profit more by simply sitting on their investment and waiting out for someone opening fheir wallet and offering the asking price.

That’s a cute theory, but housing costs are much more related to the cost of money. When the federal reserve makes money cheap, asset prices increase. Since mortgage rates are at historic lows, people simply borrow as much as possible until their monthly payment is at some threshold. If you want housing prices to return to historic norms, you need to ask the Fed to first return the cost of money to normal.

Not sure why you are being downvoted. The historically low fed rates and economy growth are the main drivers of increased house prices globally.

Buying a house has always been the preferred investment. When you make that easier, it's only natural prices will rise.

IMO, the only feasible way to minimize this trend is economic decentralization.

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