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Comment by JKCalhoun | Hacker News Reader

> we turned housing into a retirement scheme

You make it sound like a nefarious plan or some backroom deal. It seems more like real estate became our de facto retirement scheme due to everything else paling in comparison.

Pensions? Gone.

Savings? Nope, no interest (ha ha) in that.

Stock market? Sure, but its volatility prevents sane people from putting their entire nest egg into it....

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If you're in the U.K., I'd highly recommend reading "Rethinking the economics of land and housing" which outlines the history of several clear policies decisions that _encouraged_ housing as an investment which (along with supply restrictions) are in turn why it outperforms lots of other forms of investment. It's not just the market speaking, it's been shaped through lots of conscious decision making that can be undone.

It wasn’t a nefarious backroom deal. But it was a very conscious choice by many governments, spearheaded by the UK and US. And once we ventured a little bit down that path, it’s impossible to unwind bc nobody wants to lose money on their home.

It was a nefarious front-room deal. Administrations used to campaign on higher housing values (as if that were a different thing to higher housing costs/prices.) Policies have been designed to pump public money into the housing market through subsidies and tax breaks.

If housing prices drop, the middle-class homeowner gets vocally angry at the presiding administration.

the word "scheme" has negative connotations (of something shady) in America that it doesn't have in other countries. Also, it is very much an intentional policy of governments in some countries to encourage people to invest in a house as their retirement savings.

I am an American living in London, well aware of the difference. I meant scheme in the American sense. Housing policies for the past 50 years are rotten to the core.

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