When will Millennials be able to afford a home & how to fix the housing crisis | Bryan Caplan

-- Bryan Caplan, Professor of Economics at George Mason University and author of the new book "Build, Baby, Build: The Science and Ethics of Housing Regulation," joins David to discuss how to deal with the housing crisis, cost of living, and much more. Get the book: amzn.to/3JHxzTO
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Broadcast on May 2, 2024
#davidpakmanshow #housing #bryancaplan

[@thedavidpakmanshow]

Tell the media: Trump's crimes are a bigger deal than Biden's age! atadvocacy.com/trumpcrime-22024?ref=dp

[@nhertel]

🤡🤡🤡

[@coffeelover5780]

So basically, we are screwed and will never own a home.

[@JJLom777]

I don't know. These times have occurred, historically. But, it wasn't pretty. Best case scenario; unions, and regulations, along with government subsidies could pull the "nose up" out of the dive we're in. Worse case scenario... I would rather not get into that. If you research the time of the "Robber Barons," you'll find a strong correlation. My hope is that this gives you some hope.👍😊. Or, at least a direction to look toward. Be well, JJ

[@milkdromedaquantic8593]

Loooooser!

[@janicewolk6492]

If it is any consolation, I am 78 and will probably die before long, so you can buy my boomer home. What an ass Kaplan is.

[@esau93631]

Nailed it!

[@Jackmerius_Tacktheritrix5733]

Make more money or move to a place with cheaper housing prices.

[@leticiafaxas6069]

Homelessness is a real concern for young people. The high cost of living and housing is very depressing for young adults today. Politicians don’t really seem to care. The difficulty of buying a home is such a problem because what happens to these young people when they reach retirement age?. At least in previous decades you could buy a home in your early thirties and by retirement you could have paid it off. Nowadays anyone can end up homeless if they lose their job or get sick. Shouldn’t shelter be a basic human right?

[@Gregbuskte12424]

Not in America, all you’ll get in response is some BS about the freedom they pretend to have.

[@debayumukherjee7057]

From Australia and we have been having building inspection deregulation which has led to more than 50% of homes built in the last 5 years had building defects. We had a major multi floor apartment block Opal towers which had to be cleared for structural issues. Without stringent building codes, developers can use phoenix companies to declare bankruptcy on defects and screw over the apartment owners.

[@urazz7739]

I figure it was also due to house flippers and organizations and such buying houses and pumping up the prices as well. I think Caplan is correct as well with some of his reasoning but I think the big reason is that prices are being pumped up.

[@JJLom777]

Yes!

[@damiendeecee]

No. Supply and demand tell the whole story. House flippers don't buy any more than 5% of houses.. Or less. Organisations only buy houses because the supply is so limited. If house prices halved, they would sell their holdings

[@Real_Beaky]

The single fastest way to make a large sudden impact in the housing issue is to introduce an empty-dwelling-tax. Apartments and Houses that are for rent or sale should incur a financial penalty on the owner for the duration of their vacancy. This will immediately incentivize landlords and sellers to take offers quickly and at lower prices.

[@Ali_D_Katt]

​@@michaelenquist3728 I live in a beach town where there are so many homes sitting empty for half the year as Air BNB vacation rentals that they can afford to let sit empty all that time because they're charging as much as I pay for my house monthly as a weekly rate. This also inflates how much homes cost to buy for regular people. There are so many livable homes and apartments sitting empty in the US.

[@crzyprplmnky]

I get the idea of this, but it's rough right now with such high mortgage prices. It massively brings down what people can afford. If they're forced to sell now, only those with tons of cash will buy

[@Real_Beaky]

@@crzyprplmnky that's the point. If the tax is high enough, sellers will be forced to lower prices because the financial disincentive to allow homes to remain empty will be too expensive.

[@Jackmerius_Tacktheritrix5733]

Oh so you get to tell people when and for how long they should occupy their own homes that they paid for? 😂

[@Real_Beaky]

@@Jackmerius_Tacktheritrix5733 no. It is only a tax on "empty dwellings." Your home is not empty if you live in it. This would only be a tax on landlords and corporations that own multiple unoccupied properties. Does that make sense? Feel free to ask a follow up question.

[@tylerhackner9731]

When the people raising the prices ain’t there

[@crobinson2624]

I’d say just public housing. Canada has the same problem right now, we are 3.5 million homes short and the government right now has budgeted $50 billion to build 3.9 million new homes through a variety of measures by 2031.

[@freeheeler09]

Robinson, and your government wants to start bringing in hundreds of thousands more immigrants per year to compete with Canadian citizens for that scarce housing.

[@JJLom777]

Cool.

[@hariseldon791]

A terrible idea. The government will build crap. We've already been there. Quality and efficiency comes from a free market. Deregulation is the answer.

[@wade2bosh]

Ur wrong

[@crobinson2624]

@@wade2bosh what am I wrong about?

[@pfury67]

Wages have not kept up with the cost of medical, education, housing, cost of having a family. It all comes down to out of control costs versus wages.

[@dmr6390]

Interesting that Medical, Education, and housing are the ones that are the most out of control and also the ones that the government most has their hands on 👀

[@ohedd]

No. Some costs outpace wages, like medicine, tuition, housing, infrastructure development. And in other cases wages outpace costs, like for food, electronics, clothes, cars etc. So it's not out of control costs in general.

[@damiendeecee]

Wages have kept up with the cost of living, overall

[@nixpix814]

All that free stuff you voted for. The bill came.

[@MuggleKarp]

I think there are several big issues all colliding together to create our current housing crisis, with some of them developing a bit more recently than others. Many of us of course point to the greedy property owners jacking prices in oligopoly style, but going further than that, look how long it takes the nation's wages to increase versus the fact that buying and rental prices can go up OVERNIGHT... Effective wages, many argue, are actually on the DECLINE, since American productivity is at record levels as people are working crazy hours, 2-3 jobs, or admit they have a workload that is 2-5 jobs in one, for the pay of around one. I fear it's going to take SEVERAL significant changes and a bit of time for us to at least not be in the red with housing.

[@jadebrownofficial]

I see a lot of houses and apartments for sale and available. If anything the issue is wealth inequality. Most people at the bottom 50% don't have enough money to afford housing prices set arbitrarily by apartment complexes and realtors looking to make profits.

[@freeheeler09]

Berkshire Hathaway, Blackrock, other US hedge funds and corporations, and also foreign billionaires, corporations and mobsters are buying about a third of US homes right now. Young families can’t compete with Berkshire Hathaway or Russian or Chinese mobsters and billionaires.

[@JJLom777]

​@@freeheeler09Thank you! I actually just wrote about this in one of my posts, too. 😊

[@AMPvideoproductions]

@@JJLom777 can I read the post? Curious about it

[@janicewolk6492]

I won't sell my property to someone from those groups. Actually, I will give it away first.

[@hariseldon791]

Prices are not set arbitrarily by anybody. Prices are established by supply and demand in a market. If a landlord asks for a rent that is significantly above the market price he will get no interest from prospective tenants.

[@vietimports]

has anybody ever stop to think that the concept of constant growth in home ownership was simply a result of the post-war boom in economic growth that the us experienced that was entirely unique to the time? it's almost like expecting constant growth and expansion for the sake of growth and expansion is unsustainable and almost like a ponzi scheme. when we would rather build entire neighborhoods in the desert instead of letting kids inherit their parents homes, maybe we should reevaluate the purpose of home ownership outside of simply wealth accumulation

[@JJLom777]

Thank you!!

[@johnlane-tf4nj]

Very good point.

[@lauriecraw5033]

I would never live in a skyscraper. Nothing over four floors.

[@stoneneils]

I lived on the 25th floor and it was traumatizing as hell. I neede binoculars to see if my friends arrived.

[@damiendeecee]

@@stoneneils how life changing /s

[@stoneneils]

@@damiendeecee Not really, maybe for a small towner who's never lived in the city..

[@ThePoliticrat]

Caplan was my professor and I told him the same thing when we met for lunch last time.

[@xiaoka]

Rent control to block how much and how fast a landlord can jack up the rent is important. Never being able to raise the rent on a long term tenant is too much.

[@stoneneils]

Rent control is great if applied correctly, he draws a wide brush without even identifying features.

[@WildBill99x]

@@stoneneils No, there is nothing good about rent control.

[@stoneneils]

@@WildBill99x Results are in Bill. You've got massive homelessness and gen-z stuck with mom and daddy. We don't. Everybody here is still out on their own by 20-21. One job only. Our landlords are still all rich as hell...which is why you doin't hear them complaining. This is an argument, try coming back at me like an adult. I dare you.

[@WildBill99x]

@@stoneneils Who is we? Rent control is an economic disaster. Rent control is the reason that it is very difficult to find an apartment in New York and why they are in poor condition. Rent control prevents the market from working to meet demand. It creates problems while solving nothing. And it is something that government has no legitimate authority to do. Read some intelligent commentary on it, perhaps by Thomas Sowell.

[@hoonhwang4778]

As boomer, can't stop feeling guilty for having messed up for coming generations but don't lose your discernment. If some real-estate mogul claims he'll solve all this puzzle, it's hoax and hope you don't lose your money over it. This is world events that affect every living person. We should be keen to holistically step and that's the only way for our future generation.❤❤❤

[@jacobhholt]

If you look up the average square footage of homes across developed nations, Australia #1 2,303, New Zealand #2 2,174, United States is #3 with 2,164, Canada is #4 1,948 and Denmark #5 1,475.......Hong Kong #24 484. The point I'd make culturally, if housing is an investment, what's to stop the incentives of adding equity in a home to get ahead of the markets? We end up building TOO many big homes, house rich, saturating a market with fewer and fewer choices in the market except cheap flips or crippling loans. The generation that's retiring now, they're holding on to homes that are simply too big that the market could use for families. Building modest affordable housing is what the market needs for early home owners and retirees.

[@leeraewi]

My mother built her own home on a lot she purchased. She lives alone. Her house has 5 bedrooms! She built this big because she was convinced that it made it more sellable in the longterm. But, because it is so big, she now will have to sell it at the point when it becomes too much for her to manage (including all of the stairs), instead of happily aging in place with her perfect view and location.

[@eschiedler]

NIMBY politics will block every reform. Housing supply shortages will never recover.

[@jasonmazurkiewicz6960]

You hit it right on. There is a great video from Johnny Harris out there pointing this out. He points out a progressive community voting Democrat turning around then fighting zoning reform in their city. It's like they say they care about others as long as it is not in my backyard,

[@artemismoon7655]

This guy is totally ignoring other factors in favor of trying to get rid of regulations. There are issues with price fixing (almost every apartment in my town is priced suspiciously the same and now there is the Real Page accusations), there are issues with short term investment properties taking up housing, issues with too many luxury properties being built, not enough smaller, more affordable homes…people who focus on one problem look very suspicious because I have to question what their angle is. What is their motivation for harping on this one issue when there are so many factors?

[@tmcd5049]

Agreed. People pushing deregulation are usually acting as propagandists for multimillionaires and RWs. Always take what they say with a pinch of salt...

[@toddlyman9439]

Because increasing the supply of a product (homes) is the most efficient means of decreasing prices and increasing the quantity supplied, with the bonus of punishing those investors you mentioned.

[@usernameryan5982]

@@toddlyman9439This is one of the most reasonable comments I’ve seen on this thread. Unfortunately people probably won’t understand.

[@hamishgilkison1316]

All of that is wrong. He addresses all of it in his book. You should read it

[@MaureenDunwoodie]

Want to fix the housing issue? RAISE WAGES!

[@pictureworksdenver]

Pointing the finger at excessive regulatory hurdles for extreme inflation in housing prices is deeply flawed and intellectually lazy. In my area there are virtually no regulatory hurdles at all, yet there is a crisis level shortage of affordable housing. Ever higher home prices are a direct consequence of the nature of debt based money itself; Escalating asset prices are a by product of money creation via asset collateralized loan origination (mortgages) and the growth imperative embedded in a debt based money system.

[@JJLom777]

You are right. But, there is another element that seems to be affecting these prices, as well. The conglomerates that are now buying up houses and treating them like they're a stock to be played with. These are people's homes. Do owners have the right to make money? Yes. Should they have gone back to the "Robber Baron" technique of owning everything and raising prices to squeeze everything out of the folks trying to make a living? No. And, the person trying to be a single home owner gets stuck with the prices the "market" has created. I've said this before in a recent post elsewhere. The choice people really have to make is this: Is it better to own a small piece of a thriving economy? Or, is it better to own a large piece of a dying economy? In a dying economy, historically, the pitchforks eventually walk the streets.

[@dudewhodoesstuff8959]

77% of the residental land in Denver is zoned for single family homes.

[@usernameryan5982]

Even in a debt based system, supply and demand is the only thing that sets prices. If your city has housing extremely above the cost of production, it means your city is by definition over regulated either in the ability to get a permit, or in the artificial supply of land the government has provided to be developed.

[@zap...]

I've been waiting since 2008 to purchase a house again.

[@muadhnate]

Can we stop building and start reconditioning homes already available? So many cities and areas have abandoned properties so why not just lower the financial requirement when it comes to rehabilitation?

[@atorres11720]

Thank you for talking about housing.

[@__-tz6xx]

Yes! Build baby build. Build high quality new houses and condos with high quality sound barriers and efficient HVAC systems, quality plumbing, and fiber internet. Yes build but not ignore regulations, we want high quality buildings not for people to build a bunch of trash and be able to sell them for more than what their worth is.

[@Hubbatch099]

A lot of these comments make you wonder…. Why do you imagine a professional economist that researches this issue disagrees with you? David, you seem to be basing regulatory policy based on feels as opposed to the empirics and the audience reflects that.

[@michaelhutchings6602]

Progressivism in a nutshell

[@damnjustassignmeone]

Enjoyed this interview. Interesting ideas.

[@whatintheheck4692]

The problem isn’t lack of housing, it’s greed. Many companies have tried to take advantage of this housing market by building attached developments, but quite a bit are sitting vacant because they are still not affordable. The American dream for most is to own a detached single family home with a yard. We don’t want to get ourselves into a 30 yr mortgage to share a wall in a shoddy complex without a yard.

[@JasonWood100]

We need zoning reform to allow for more dense cities with abundant housing, shopping, and working within a 15 minute walk. A much more efficient, sustainable, and economically sound style of development.

[@hariseldon791]

Zoning abolition would be better.

[@jtkrause]

This guy sounds like a typical libertarian. Just blaming problems on government regulation. You should have asked him why governments have regulations. In almost every single situation it's because something bad happened and the government had to step in to fix a loophole that some greedy person or corporation took advantage of.

[@esau93631]

Libertarians live in a world of bad effects they hate but never want to know or learn the cause of those bad effects....

[@Ali_D_Katt]

And people just trying to survive and keep a roof over their head wrote those regulations in their blood and paid for them with their life.

[@toddlyman9439]

He said the regulatory burden of safety regulations is minor and barely mentioned as an issue in his book. Love the hyperfixation on hating libertarians though, very productive.

[@jtkrause]

@@toddlyman9439 comment sections are typically meant for "hyperfixation". Were you expecting a dissertation about libertarian delusion? Those can be found all over the internet.

[@usernameryan5982]

Our current regulations on housing make it a living fucking hell both in terms of prices but also in how unnecessarily spread out and ugly they make American cities. It’s better to listen to the actual arguments than the political label behind the guest. He gave clear reasons as to why regulations around parking minimums, zoning, lot coverage, set backs, are in almost all cases, more harmful than helpful. Rather than do the lazy thing by characterizing him, try and actually criticize his claims.

[@jasonmazurkiewicz6960]

David Parkman is right. So is this economics professor. Tax incentives for "affordable" housing. Zoning laws have to change. Does rent control work? The problem is the prices are because of a shortage of housing. Rent control basically there is no incentive to build new affordable housing because there is no money to be made. Regulation costs money. This professor is not out of touch. It's reality. David Parkman is right on. If prices of housing fall if you bought your house yesterday you're now underwater on your home. Unfortunately getting out of this mess is probably going to end up being 15-20 years. Let's face it if you own a home and you have a lot of equity do you want the value of your home to drop? Everyone who wants to buy a home wants the market to crash. Everyone who owns a home wants the value of their house to be high. So we all have different incentives and motives depending on what position you are currently in and that's a problem.

[@thecatsbackyard4833]

I feel compelled to push back on the idea that pricing control is a bad option. Sam Seder of the Majority Report has astutely stated that the fixed rate mortgage is effectively rent control with interest. It looks an awful lot like rent to own but by another name. The housing market is an albatross to the entire economy and prevents people from advancing themselves. Every generation has jump through a new set of hoops to reach the same place. Where does that get us?

[@KenGaskins-nm3gx]

Good idea on deregulating to encourage more building. Also, rent control really doesn't work, and discourages more development. As pointed by someone else in "the comments", though generally I'm "a laissez faire believer", there needs to be a limit on firms line Blackstone as well as wealthy buyers (both foreign and domestic) buying up properties in bulk. It's especially difficult for young buyers to buy their first home, unless they inherit a home, become wealthy or are willing to move to a more inexpensive market (domestic or overseas). There needs to be some rational limits, which can be adjusted if more liquidity is needed in the housing market.

[@anathema1828]

Welcoming more discussions like this one!

[@sebastiantous-bryant5657]

More a theory than fact, but Foreign investment in real estate In big cities has to be a major culprit for jacked prices. Demand remains steady because wealthy investors can afford it. Meanwhile, average americans can't afford to live in many of the appealing bigger cities, or have to room up with a bunch of renters to make due. And then there's the ghost tenants aspect of those foreign (and also super wealthy domestic) investors...not sure what the stats are on that, but it has to come into play since it inherintly reduces inventory. More common in places like NY and SF to my understanding, but it has a ripple effect

[@leeraewi]

Not just foreign investment, because investors can also be domestic and/or multinational, as well as foreign. Housing has increasingly become treated as an investment vehicle in a globalised marketplace, where housing becomes decoupled from local markets. At the same time, people need somewhere to live, so normal people are having to compete and contend with these organizations and entities who gamifying housing just to fulfill a basic necessity of life. It's obscene. And if only it was limited to desirable bigger cities. Now, it's the same dynamic almost everywhere, pretty much globally.

[@CreekInTheOzarks]

This guy probably has rental properties. He doesn't want the system to change.

[@imnotmike]

The vast majority of cities have a minimum lot size of 5000-8000 square feet. There are only a handful of places that require the lot sizes he's talking about. They aren't enough to contribute to the housing crisis in a meaningful way.

[@nixpix814]

When a very knowledable ancap explains to David why the exact policies he has pushed for decades are the exact problem. Love it.

[@geisaune793]

Implement a strong land value tax while greatly reducing (or maybe even eliminating) all other taxes. That will reduce property values and thus rents and house prices, incentivize new development, and raise wages and lower the cost of living across the board. That will fix the housing crisis along with a lot of other issues nowadays such as climate change, wealth inequality, democratic backsliding, and more. Pretty easy. Read Progress and Poverty. Praise Henry George

[@leeraewi]

Has this worked for Florida?

[@Me97202]

Stop allowing corporations to own homes. Stop allowing people to use real estate as only an investment.

[@SolarxPvP]

Why is real estate an investment? Why do corporations own homes? Have you considered that housing regulation is causing those prices to go up so they can invest in them?

[@tmcd5049]

@@SolarxPvP The tail doesn't wag the dog... sheesh.

[@trappedinamerica7740]

@@SolarxPvPyou scream Regulation as corporations just outbid you by an extra 100k because they know people are desperate for a place to live and will pay whatever they have to. Besides now that home is worth 100k more in their portfolio and the rent more than pays for everything including “regulation” and profit.

[@usernameryan5982]

@@trappedinamerica7740 The reason people are desperate is because of housing regulation strangling supply production. Blackrock has admitted they target markets with the tightest regulations because they know they won’t need to compete with new inventory. Sure, regulate hedge funds from buying homes, but quit using them as a scapegoat for the fundamental problem which is the regulations causing artificial scarcity and market distortions.

[@jtg2525]

Increase supply and the motivation to buy a home purely as investment decreases. Making it illegal has for more uncertain outcomes

[@WaitingtoHit]

I love a house with an enormous garage and very little living space.

[@mason4966]

Its all by design! Iam convined of that!

[@kristincarr118]

Rent control allows families to exist in a home in a way that provides dignity in their lives. It's absolutely necessary mainly because the cost of healthcare is absolutely astronomical and for middle and low income families it's damn near impossible to provide both for your family without assistance.

[@stoneneils]

I live in under rent control and universal healthcare in Canada and there is one problem.its great....everybody i know is broke but nobody i know is stressed out at all. We can forsee all our costs.

[@Chris-zi1we]

A great book on this topic is 'escaping the housing trap' by Charles Marohn. It came out recently and breaks down how restrictive zoning/regulation and the the increasing use of housing as a financial asset has led to the current housing mess we're in, and has a lot of really pragmatic solutions. Great book and Charles would be a great guest as well!

[@andrewrobinson1479]

This guy is way off. I was a realtor until recently. As I type this, my neighbor's house is so close I could hit it with a rock and this was built in the 50s. What's killing housing is high interest rates and people are living longer and not leaving their homes when they get older.

[@Jackmerius_Tacktheritrix5733]

This started before rates for high. It’s a supply and demand issue caused by government regulations and a bit of lagging supply chain regulations.

[@damiendeecee]

Housing regulations like zoning and planning laws began in the 1960s and have increased steadily from then. The fact that your 1950s neighbouring house is so close proves Bryan Caplan right. You need to read the book instead of getting emotional

[@andrewrobinson1479]

@@damiendeecee wah wah the government. Sounds pretty "emotional"

[@andrewrobinson1479]

If people weren't in the realty business, they don't understand or know what they're talking about.

[@damiendeecee]

@@andrewrobinson1479 You obviously don't know too much, or you'd understand how housing regulations halved they number of houses you could have sold per year

[@trevorbryant4360]

Think housing has to stop being thought of an income property where the reason for owning a home is to profit from it.

[@psikeyhackr6914]

When are economists going to talk about planned obsolescence and admit that accounting/finance should have been mandatory in high schools since Sputnik?

[@Mustachioed_Mollusk]

Profits and shareholder investments matter more than lives. We cant regulate that issue away because the lawmakers are profiting too much off the current system and since law makers make the laws they get to do what they want with no fear. If they are caught who's going to tell them no?

[@harmonizedigital.]

Commerical real estate is in a terrible situation post pandemic and it might take down the regional banks. And this guy is saying we need more.

[@cogen651]

Houses will come down in price as soon as the supply increases. The government needs to make it easy for companies to build housing. Investment bought up alot of the supply.

[@WarlanderTV]

A tiny home in small town northern British Columbia is $450.000. This guy has no idea what he is talking about.

[@RatedArggg]

And a tiny home lot in my little cow town in the US is more than $650/month.

[@devalapar7878]

@@RatedArggg oh my god, really? My 2 room appartment costs me 2000 dollar a month in Europe.

[@devalapar7878]

You would get a 2 room appartment for 450'000 dollars in Switzerland. If you want a single family home, you have to pay over 2 million dollars.

[@dudewhodoesstuff8959]

70% of the residential land in British Columbia is zoned for single family homes. Meaning it's illegal to build apartments, duplexes or townhouses on most land.

[@deltadovertime]

Well BC has totally opened up development around the skytrain so if regulations are the problem this will surely fix it. Of course, at least in Vancouver, that is not the problem. 25% of new builds in 1999 went to investors. It is well north of 50% and that is the problem that plagues any city with investors.

[@steveeuphrates-river7342]

Rent control is a feature of a command economy- not a free market policy.

[@nixpix814]

12k views? Someone didnt want this to spread.

[@High-Tech-Geek]

I love how these anti-regulation people never state a specific regulation. They know if they do, they will be open to all sorts of criticism because regulations usually have a basis in safety. Building codes in the US save lives.

[@darrellsawyer1211]

Fix the greed. Fix the housing crisis.

[@darrellsawyer1211]

@@michaelenquist3728 I dunno, regulation by people who aren't greedy. Sounds simple and idealistic and it is. That's why it won't happen.

[@fishbone2921]

The regulations I encounter pertaining to my home are safety related therefore important.

[@matthew2199]

Even the apartments that do get built are trash. So called luxury housing with paper thin ceilings and walls. It's like having roommates. Not a reliable way to live.

[@notvenom1152]

My neighbor basically outlawed tiny homes because they require a minimum house size and minimum acres size per dwelling.....

[@left-coast-dad]

This guy is conveniently stuck in his own bubble of non-reality. "Skyscrapers! Everywhere! You aren't allowed to build a house on less than an acre!" Um.... okay(?). The country is, shockingly, larger than a borough in NYC. He should try leaving his before sharing his 'expert' opinion on the state of housing in America and what you can/cannot do and what does/doesn't make sense when it comes to building housing and solving our housing crisis. But, congrats, you maybe helped him sell a couple more books full of his wisdom. This one was disappointing, David.

[@tomclarke2549]

So.... when?

[@sideler7057]

Terrible episode that told me nothing except this guy doesn't like zoning. Many if not most Americans want single family homes with a decent plot of land. Tell me how to make that happen, not how to build a skyscraper down the street from me.

[@ThePoliticrat]

Ha. He was my professor.

[@rocknrollanp]

Bryan Caplan fails to explain why prices soared over the past 5 years, despite regulatory guidelines staying nearly the same. His argument holds no water.

[@keymold4405]

You people seriously need to take an economics class or at least read economic literature

[@Shnzmnky41]

Just in his first point this doesn’t really seem to be the case? Anecdotally. There’s not enough supply? Even with the U.S. birth rate decreasing and myself seeing mostly vacant high rises all over U.S. cities?

[@michelled8408]

The question should be; when will anyone be able to live anywhere?. Rents are so high and you can forget about buying when the mortgages in my state are 3k a month for a cheap house. Rents are ,1700- 4k .

[@freeheeler09]

Agreed! But there are affordable houses our there.The problem is that banks won’t loan on distressed homes. And, few families have the money to buy and then fix up a distressed home. But if you can scrape together the money for a POS. And if you are willing to sacrifice a few years of weekends and vacations and every extra cent you have to fix up a home. And if you are brave enough to learn new skills. You can get into the housing market the hard way.

[@michelled8408]

@@freeheeler09 yeah I have no option to buy. I can't only rent and at this time the rents are astronomical and especially if you're on a fixed income.

[@birdsofparadise8274]

@michelled8408 Check out articles in Propublica and NPR that cover the price fixing and collusion scheme used by large-scale apartment property managers (a la OPEC). For a fee, RealPage’s software (YieldStar) will allow apartment property managers, often in competition with each other, to have access to what the going rate is for rent. Those who have this software subscription keep rent about the same. Hence the price fixing and collusion. If rent goes up in some apartments, the other apartment owners most likely will increase their rent as well. YieldStar software is not good for renters since renters cannot haggle with property management. Property managers may prefer to have vacant apartments and keep rents high so that renters will have no choice but to acquiesce to their price demands to rent an apartment. This is just one of the awful reasons the rent is so high.

[@kendogalog]

Yeah, I'm not sure an economist who wants to deregulate everything and put skyscrapers up everywhere is the best judge. Not jiving with his sentiment personally.

[@trogdor20X6]

Skyscrapers would only be built where it makes sense to build, no one is going to be building a skyscraper in Gary Indiana

[@evanmoorman3828]

Right. Creating fairly high density does not require anything higher than 3-4 stories generally as long as you have those fairly close together. Of course liberalizing land use in LA,SF, NYC and Boston would likely lead to skyscrapers but elsewhere I would doubt it

[@jacobnapkins1155]

Nah you're just a nimby and want to keep people homeless due to high housing costs

[@StumblingThroughItAll]

Hmmmmm.... Government strangling what would otherwise be a thriving and progressive industry.... Who would have thought? Then Packman goes on to list out a group of solutions, many of which are examples of more government regulations...

[@Zhengrui0]

Wow, so the protagonist in Up! is actually a villain?

[@lostexplorersguild767]

I don’t understand what this guy is saying … is he saying we need to build more high-rise apartments? That isn’t really an appealing way to live. Perhaps we need “high-rise houses?”

[@user-rz6px8se2u]

Is this a genuine question or a rhetorical one? If it’s the former, the reason he is saying there should be more high-rise apartments, multi-family homes, greater levels of density in cities, etc. is because there is considerable demand to live in highly productive areas like cities. If supply is prevented from responding to demand by regulation, then many of those who would otherwise have been willing to live in the city can only live a bit farther away in the suburbs. But what does that mean? The housing in the suburbs is now being bid for excessively and the cost will rise there. If supply is similarly constricted in that area then supply won’t be able to respond to that either and the issue will be exacerbated, but we can leave that to the side for now because you specifically asked about the logic behind “high-rises.” Let’s hold all else equal and say we allow for more construction in the urban areas. This would alleviate some of the bidding for the suburban homes and bring down prices at selling time, because those willing to live in the midst of the city would now be able to and would no longer be forced to bid against those like yourself who don’t find living in higher density areas appealing. That would not entirely solve the problem but it would alleviate it to a non-trivial degree. If you would like some research on the effect of land-use regulation on housing prices I would be able to send you some sources.

[@baxtronx5972]

Rent control is bad, and anyway, it's real bad...and regulations.....bad....-This Guest

[@thecatsbackyard4833]

It still blows my mind that we have a housing crisis in America. I find it shocking. China has %10 more land and has too much housing for nearly one and a half billion people. America has not enough housing for a fourth of that population. It also worth noting that just ten percent of the US population holds as much wealth as the whole population of China. So wealth concentration is another possible issue.

[@bobathefact2305]

So watch this video for a second time and let me come to conclusion David you need to stop putting people like this on who primarily came from a upper middle class household never had problems and only cares about making money for themselves. I will put my entire small unfortune on the fact that he is nothing more than a political concept that pushes an idea to make himself more money because he his friends and family are in the exploitive Market

[@Alexander21025]

Anyone who is educated and an expert is going to be at least in the middle class? Should he bring a high school dropout and ask them how to fix housing?

[@JJLom777]

​@@Alexander21025Honestly, I think maybe you're both correct. And, they're good points. 👍

[@BOFH_]

@@Alexander21025 David should bring a normal person who lives in reality day-to-day (or even better, a group of people like that from all across the country) to ask the economist questions about how they plan on fixing the dire situation on the ground, instead of only having the economist provide sermons from their ivory tower.

[@usernameryan5982]

The fact you watched the video twice and came to this conclusion only means that you most likely have a below average IQ and should stay out of politics.

[@maau7439]

This guy is living in a purely hypothetical world while David is actually talking about reality. Just deregulating and letting people build whatever they want where ever they want is completely detached from reality.

[@rmack9226]

You're horrible, David, but it's great you're having Brian on.

[@mosheedy9862]

I am not sure what this guest has answered the issue. And it's an important issue too.

[@jeffmoser4034]

The majority of Millenials already own a home.

[@xiaoka]

He’s naive if he thinks building inspections don’t save lives. That libertarian shit doesn’t work.

[@stoneneils]

Same with his rent control notions..i live in a city where every rental is controlled. Trust me, they keep throwing up new ones all the time..nobody is walking away from a viable site.

[@Jackmerius_Tacktheritrix5733]

Surfside was subject to heavy regulations and regular inspections. How’d that work out? He’s not saying do away with inspections. He’s talking about shifting the standards and responsibility to the private sector. Your doctor’s expertise isn’t rubber stamped by a government employee that knows nothing about medicine, it’s judged by the AMA, a private organization.

[@Jackmerius_Tacktheritrix5733]

@@stoneneils. Rent control is a net negative on society. Did you not listen to the video at all?

[@damiendeecee]

The first 5 minutes of building inspections save lives.. websites building inspections don't. The economics of extremely clear

[@stoneneils]

@@Jackmerius_Tacktheritrix5733 You really really REALLY need to stop taking your advice from KZbin videos. Its going to discourage you from moving anywher, trying every career, and dating literaly any woman lol. If rent control is a net negative on society why are we talking about YOUR country's homelessness all the time and nobody elses. None of us have nearly your problem because all of us have some form of rent control..just like universal healthcare. I'm 54 and myself and half my buddies are semi/retired already, we can predict our costs 20 years into the future.

[@nothingistrutv3927]

Ofcccccc rent control is bad. jfc.

[@LumpsIsHigh]

As someone who works in Real Estate the initial salvo from this guy is utter nonsense. There was a significant amount of multi family housing permits the past few years. Attached housing, ADUs, condos that are instead 12 homes on 1 acre, etc. Where in the US are there regulations of 1 acre per home that isn’t rural AF? Absolute 🤡 How in the hell is he simultaneously talking about building skyscrapers and that government is requiring an acre per home? These are not remotely occurring in the same location. Classic extreme anecdotes. Also, I don’t live in a major city and I see this literally every day. Now, ask him about what builders would try to get away with if we didn’t have regulations….

[@Hippiekinkster]

VIENNA AUSTRIA.

[@devalapar7878]

Millennials have lost 10 years of experience. So they will be able to afford a home but 10 years later than everyone else. Also home ownership in the US is extremely high. Jesus Christ, we in Europe have 20-30% home ownership. If someone needs help, it is Europe!

[@nixpix814]

David, this is a genuine phd economist. When your ideas about economics clash with his YOU are definitely in the wrong. That's the issue with politics, you pretend to know topics like economics and advocate all these insane policies but you don't really know what you're talking about.

[@movdqa]

I'm a strong no on rent control. Cambridge, MA is the poster child for why you shouldn't do it. My solution would be the government build dense housing, schools around it, a hospital, robust public transportation and room for factories and offices nearby. Then sell condos below market value at affordable prices. A note on building in my area: apartment buildings are going up pretty fast because there's massive demand for housing here. I think that we need more houses, townhouses and condos too but builders are focusing on apartments. On regulations: I think that they are good. We used to have a vinyl dryer exhaust. Then fire code required us to replace it with flexible metal tubing. So we did that. And then regulation changed again to require a straight metal pipe. So we did that. It cost a fair amount of money to do the upgrades. Same with hot water heaters. We had to upgrade the vent exhaust which would have meant increasing the vent size through 3 ceilings and floors and the roof. So we were basically forced to put in an electric heater which required a new electric circuit and a new shutoff box and an automatic water shutoff. Again, these regulations are good as they are safety-related but it doesn't feel great when you have to shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars to comply with code.

[@jasonmazurkiewicz6960]

Everything you said here makes sense. I think people think rent control is a quick fix. It’s not. I laid out everything you said in a post earlier and I was called a jerk for saying I want people to be homeless. Both scenarios produce homeless people. Scenario 1 rent too high. Scenario 2 rent control keeps people currently who are in apartments from getting priced out. Bad if you are looking for a place because they don’t exist. Government subsidy for high density housing is the solution with built infrastructure for public transportation. That’s our ticket out of this mess. Also restrict wall street from buying single family homes. The people who want rent control are not thinking about the economics behind what can do to supply of housing which is the very reason why we are in this mess in the first place.

[@bmococacola]

I think his comments stating that if you are happy in your home and you are not looking to make a boatload of money at some point on it you are considered a loser to be absolutely disgusting an indicative of the problem. I also agree that wealth inequality is to blame for many of the housing issues

[@esau93631]

It couldn't be all these people I see on youtube telling old home owners that they will pay them cash for their home upfront so they can flip it or rent it out for a crazy amount........ Nope, this guy will never question the evils of a free market, but blame it all on regulation.... Really? Homes are being built like crazy here in the western US, yet the costs are outrageous.... Now cars are becoming the next item that will soon be unattainable for most people to purchase...

[@hariseldon791]

No one can rent out a house for a "crazy amount." They can only get the market rent. Asking for a rent above market means nobody will show up to rent the house. People in the market to rent can easily find out what the market rent is and will recognize a place where the asking rent is too high. Landlords do not set their own prices.

[@PhantomQueenOne]

That guy is such a liar, the main reason is sheer greed. No one can afford housing.

[@Alexander21025]

So, in the past, people sold houses and rented lower than they could actually get? Saying it is greed is just lazy

[@PhantomQueenOne]

@@Alexander21025 I'm talking about greedy landlords not normal ones. Besides in ALL states you can't afford rent unless you work two like jobs. Take your far right nonsense and scram.

[@Alexander21025]

@PhantomQueenOne I am not right wing. You are just making a bad point, and instead of thinking, you attack me. 95% of landlords throughout all time want to get the most they can get. Do you have any evidence landlords are more greedy now then before? Maybe it is more to do with market forces and not just people being greedy. Because they were always "greedy".

[@JJLom777]

​@@Alexander21025Though I don't want to get between this, I think they're really just boiling it down to the most basic truth. There is such a thing as enough. There's no harm in making a profit. But, if the profit is only causing harm? Yeah. That's an issue. And, I do believe it needs to be dealt with. Soon. I mean, if one really thinks about it, most of the world's ills can be put in the basket of "greed," or "ignorance.". Even "want" usually stems from another's greed. So, there's no need to suggest laziness. But, perhaps they could have explained themselves better. Or, you could have just asked them to.

[@PhantomQueenOne]

@@Alexander21025 Maybe they are asking more than the market can bear? You shouldn't have to work two jobs to afford a cheap one bedroom apartment in a crap area of town. It's about the money!

[@teejay3272]

Not hard to see two city boys talkin'. But fighting against rent control? Which is included with other renter protections? So people will rely on the goodness of landlords? Smells a little trickle downy to me. But here's something we could do immediately that wouldn't solve anything but would help. END SHORT TERM RENTALS. I live around them and they've destroyed communities around the country. They greatly reduce inventory, workers have no place to live and businesses close.But I bet this dude uses AirBnb's for vacations. Man...there's something about snarky college professors, with no skin in the game, that I really don't like.

[@MadScientistGuild]

I know how to build a house I did it for humanitarian aid and I did it as a trade. Yet I have to go through so much red tape I can’t build my own home. Or even a tiny home

[@user-dc7st2lm5g]

When Biden's back on the scrapheap , that's when .

[@lostexplorersguild767]

David is straight trippin’

[@208nGrate]

You could have bought a home under Trump. But getting rid of mean tweets was more important. David Pakman fans are a lost cause. But hopefully, everyone else realizes. You get what ya vote for.

[@golanbenishay3404]

Increasing the property tax rate would cause for a high turnover, just look at New Jersey, more deserted homes than you can buy for $1, but this time apply it to the rich instead of the poor. The bigger your house the higher property tax. In addition, bringing the cost of single family homes down will bring the rental cost down faster than you can think. Your interviewer appears to be biased with a different agenda and full of sh...

[@mal0702]

This guy is a cheeseburger

[@TaylorTV5]

He’s right for the most part. Regulation has hamstrung new home building for so long, and there is malice behind it. Municipalities don’t want affordable housing, so they raise their requirements in arbitrary ways to price out aspiring low income homeowners. It’s not profitable to build low income without government subsidy. I’m glad David mentioned prefabricated housing, super important moving forward w/ our countries trade base reducing as fast as it is. Innovation and deregulation is our way out of this. And it will be long term, we are short 4-5 million homes right now.

[@themu2715]

You support Brandon, y ask now

[@Isit420yet]

When they cut the Umbilical cord and stand on their own two feet I was twenty three when I owned my first house with my first husband . God rest his soul We had no help from our parents. We had to work hard, save and make it our goal to own a home. It didn't come free

[@slydog81]

You sound like you are very smart and informed.

[@Isit420yet]

@slydog81 no just good parenting. I had wonderful parents. They taught me the value of a dollar at an early age They taught me hard work and no play made for a dull day So I worked hard and played harder

[@coldsnap999]

Breathed in a lot of those lead fumes didn't you meemaw

[@Isit420yet]

@coldsnap999 what are you talking about I was raised with parents who taught their children how to make good decisions and work hard if you wanted something. How old were you when you were able to purchase your first house How old were you when you got your first paycheck paying job I was 14 because I wanted a car when I turned 16 and I knew my parents weren't going to purchase me a vehicle when I turned 16 I purchased a 1963 4 door Chevy Impala What did you do for yourself at 14

[@thatsgottahurt666]

This guy sounds like one of those know it all millennial types who thought his generation did things different than it’s predecessors (work /life blah blah) and now that he realizes he needs to get his ass in gear because his wife is yelling at him for stalling on buying a house a few years ago… good luck with those rates kiddo 😂😂😂😂

[@JLKeener77]

What’s wrong with rent control? It’s the one thing that could serve as an immediate and direct help to those who just can’t afford rent these days because their wages are too low. I feel like the elites always find some bullshit excuse to get around doing common sense things that would really help. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@markweaver1012]

Right! What would be the problem with house price control? Or car price control? Or major appliance price control? There are many things that people have trouble affording -- why not just have the government set prices for everything at a level everybody can afford? We could solve everybody's money problems with such commonsense approaches if it weren't for the elites and their BS excuses.

[@hariseldon791]

What's wrong with rent control is that capping prices below the market price leads to shortages. Setting minimum prices, as in the minimum wage, leads to surpluses, as in surplus labor, aka unemployment. Setting minimum or maximum prices is also a violation of the right to contract. Two parties making a agreement on the price of an exchange, privately and voluntarily, is within their rights and government has no legitimate authority to forcibly alter the terms of their arrangement.

[@doloreskloper9993]

When Trump gets back in office. It's the only way or go live with mommy and daddy.

[@OpinionatedPirck]

🥱

[@ryanreeves3165]

I just love (sarcastically) calling current homeowners greedy and selfish because they won't give up the houses they've worked decades to have, so developers can get richer. Since when did the American Dream become, "If you work hard, you can buy a house and keep it just until we force you out of it to build a skyscraper?" I ask you, "Who are the greedy ones?"

[@keymold4405]

Nobody said that. Nobody wants to give up their homes because of interest rate dynamics and supply and demand.

[@ryanreeves3165]

@@keymold4405 At 10:30 and the next few minutes, Caplan talks about deregulation so skyscrapers can be built. He said that most people think the problem is SELFISH homeowners who don't want to see the value of their property decrease. Kaplan said it's not "just" that. In short, his plan is 1) deregulation 2) getting people out of their beloved single family homes so developers and investors can have the property, and 3) building skyscrapers. At 12:00 he callously brushes off the homeowners who don't want to move. "Well," he says, "a lot of people do." Unscrupulous developers are infamous for forcing people out their homes by any means necessary.