Everywhere I look I see the same story unfolding and hurting the productive parts of the economy (productive as opposed to rentier ones). Jobs move in a place. Cost of living (largely dominated by rent) is reasonable. Workers move in. Cost of living starts to rise and rises till the point where a lot of the workers actually pay most of their income just to get by. Pockets of them (e.g. married high earning couples and singles that are lucky to have a place) still save a lot but the proportion of people that actually makes no sense to live and work there any more is getting too high.

In my eyes this is a highjacking of the productive capitalism by the rentier parts of it and it is demoralizing, unproductive (by definition) and destructive. An apartment does not produce value. It is a mere necessity. The people living there may produce value if they are allowed to. But sinking all their energy and finance in just securing a roof over their head leaves less and less for any productive risk taking.

Disclaimer: Living the renting/housing drama in Ireland.