• SCB@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Honestly, wood isn’t that valuable.

    Also we have an insane shortage of housing

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yes lack of supply with an increase in demand yields higher prices.

        • Ryantific_theory@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          The issue isn’t really supply though, it’s that houses are held as investments, not as property, and it massively inflated their value. That’s created a lot of pressures that benefit from desperate homebuyers.

          Twenty percent of homes last quarter were bought by investors compared to ten percent in 2010. Can you guess what happens when a fifth of home purchases are intended to generate more profit? Rent goes up, houses are flipped and sold at even higher rates, and homebuyers are squeezed further out by deeper wallets. New home builders intentionally reduced production because letting demand grow makes people more likely to purchase new homes, which are sold at a premium over existing homes. We’re manufacturing just over half of the homes per month that we did back in 2005, and whenever sales are too slow (like in 2018) they just reduce completions until the market is forced to buy at the prices they want.

          The moment housing became an investment instead of a place to live it steadily screwed over the market. If too many residential homes are released onto the market investment groups lose potential profit, but strategic purchasing and selling can maintain rising prices and steady profits. Not to mention that the collective investment spending of a couple hundred billion a year on buying up residential properties has a vested interest to ensure the supply doesn’t ever catch up and reduce the value of their investment.

          Basically the housing market has been a disaster for decades, and it happily continues downhill.

          • SCB@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Houses are held as investments because homes are good investments. Homes are good investments because supply is too low

            • Ryantific_theory@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              That’s… A truly remarkable perspective lol. I just told you that the supply is artificially constricted to inflate prices and gouge profit, and your response is “that’s what makes it good.”

              What’s next, investment groups buying up a significant percentage of non-perishable foods if it’ll make “good investments because supply is too low”? Basic necessities of life shouldn’t be investments because supply and demand aren’t really relevant when you need something. It’s just extortion with extra steps.

              A huge portion of the population is choosing not to have kids because houses are too expensive, and even if they manage to get one, raising a family on top of that is too expensive. When investments are negatively impacting the entire population of a country, that’s a bad thing.

              • SCB@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                I never said it was good. Homes shouldn’t be investments. Ideally, they’d depreciate in value without renovation.

                The reason they appreciate in value is we don’t build enough.

                • Ryantific_theory@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Yes, though you did just call them good investments. An investment being good solely because the market is an anti-consumer purgatory isn’t a good investment. The moment the housing market is fixed the investment collapses back to being driven by property location instead of the simple fact that its exists. Not to mention concerns about another housing market crash or recession waiting in the wings.

                  Homes should depreciate in value, similar to cars, and imagine what would happen if car manufacturers decided they liked the Covid price points and supply constriction, and started treating them like the housing market? There’s more money to be made in ensuring there isn’t enough supply than there is in meeting demand.

                  • SCB@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    I can recognize the reality of a good investment while disagreeing that it should be a good investment.

                    People aren’t building because they are choosing not to. They’re not building because they literally can’t.

    • ThatWeirdGuy1001@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      wood isn’t that valuable.

      Bitch what?? You think trees aren’t valuable??

      Just because a corporate asshole doesn’t put high monetary value to fuckin trees don’t mean they aren’t the literal biggest focal point for almost all human advancement.

      Nigga you think we’d be even close to where we are without wood?

      Not just that but wood is a nonrenewable fuckin resource bitch. It don’t come back in our lifetime dumbass. Yeah it’s fucking natural but so is me ripping your asshole out your mouth bitch.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Some trees are valuable, especially at certain times of year. Wood is hardly scarce.

        You seem to not understand the difference between important and valuable. Grasshoppers are important, but not very valuable.

        • ThatWeirdGuy1001@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          Tell all that to deforestation bruh. Tell that to the fuckin Amazon which is being cut and burned for fuckin money. Tell that to the trees that take centuries to fuckin grow meanwhile we cuttin them down by the millions.

          If you ain’t seein it yet you’ll see it soon, but we need these fuckin things.