• hansl@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I came in to say something similar. Don’t focus on the price of the rent. The problem is the salary. Rent to salary has been going up and someone is pocketing the difference.

    • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The problem is both.

      Edit:

      Of course this isn't universally applicable, but in my city there's basically six large landlords that own and manage the types of large, multi-family apartment buildings where the majority of people live.

      There's no competition in housing and it shows in the pricing, which has been skyrocketing not coincidentally as the firms consolidate and then all "somehow" price align using the same software market rates.

      • hansl@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That’s not how an inflationary economy works. Rent will always go up in yesterday’s money.

        If the market was doing its job, salaries wouldn’t be much behind. So the ratio of rent:salary would be relatively stable.

        • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          So you're saying solely blame employers for consistent rent increases that top 10% year over year in some markets?

          Employers aren't going to keep raising everyone's salary 10% every year to compete with the amount of greed in housing markets. Small ones can't afford to, and large ones will be punished brutally by their investors for doing so.

          Two things can be true: salaries can have stagnated, and rents / housing prices can have skyrocketed as well.