Is there no solution to housing crisis?

[u/Comfortable-Wrap-493]

I feel like we are completely stuck.

I know the government can't just snap its fingers and force real estate prices to drop. Property is treated as a huge investment. It's not just the massive corporations and wealthy investors; even regular, lower-income people have their entire life savings tied up in the value of their homes. Crashing the market hurts them, too.

But if we don't find a solution, we are heading toward a future where only the rich will ever be able to afford buying land or a house.

Even renting is getting completely out of control. At the rate prices are increasing, soon only people with high-paying corporate jobs will be able to afford a basic apartment.

So what happens to everyone else? What about the working class, the people who actually sweat and break their backs to keep this country running? If the main workforce is priced out of both buying and renting, how does society even function? What about artistic jobs? What about creativity? Should all just join high paying collar jobs?

Does anyone see a realistic way out of this mess?

[u/nglyarch]

In the US, there are more housing units available than there are households. As of last year, around 9.9% more (source: US Census Bureau).

The real solution is to heavily tax non-primary residences until they are no longer attractive investment vehicles. Do what China did. De-financialize the market. Housing is for living in, not for investing or tax avoidance.

[u/Prasiatko → u/nglyarch]

Where are those houses relative to demand? An abundance of housing in Detroit does nothing to lowe peices in Oakland. 

[u/nglyarch → u/Prasiatko]

Move to Detroit.

[u/ILikeCommunism97 → u/nglyarch]

Moving costs money, if you are already on the lower end of what you can afford, moving from California to Michigan is often not a realistic thing to do in terms of cost.