> It's honestly quite scary how I'm in the top 2% of income earners in my generation and yet I could barely afford to buy a small place in a semi-desirable area. I can easily see myself not being able to compete in algorithmically dominated markets flush with venture cash in the future and I earn more than just about everybody I know today.
A thought exercise: suppose that no new houses are ever built and that housing turnover is nearly zero. What happens to the price of housing in that limit? Market forces do not necessarily entitle the top n% of the income distribution to housing.
I was a bit cynical about this too: I live in Los Angeles, where a "small place in semi-desirable area" gets listed for 1.5M and goes for nearly 2M. I'm somewhere in the top 5% of earners in California, but that $2M 1950s tract housing would be >50% of my post-tax income.
A thought exercise: suppose that no new houses are ever built and that housing turnover is nearly zero. What happens to the price of housing in that limit? Market forces do not necessarily entitle the top n% of the income distribution to housing.
I was a bit cynical about this too: I live in Los Angeles, where a "small place in semi-desirable area" gets listed for 1.5M and goes for nearly 2M. I'm somewhere in the top 5% of earners in California, but that $2M 1950s tract housing would be >50% of my post-tax income.