[lbo-talk] "Save subprime borrowers, not bloated bankers" by Dean Baker

Jordan Hayes jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com
Tue Aug 21 11:03:43 PDT 2007



> the past 12 years or so have been an extraordinary boom.

More than that. I was a renter in Manhattan 89-91 and 92-94 ... it was crazy then, but compared to today it was cheap. The same can be said for Berkeley: I was a renter 83-89 and again in 91-92. I finally bought a condo in 94 but should have in 85 :)


> Nationally, for the century before 1995, house prices on Shiller's
> reckoning only rose about 1% above the rate ofinflation.

First of all, a century worth of data is useless in this thread. But anyway, 1% makes a huge difference in the calculator you posted. The default value when you read the story is -2% (if you agree that "inflation" == "rent") which is unreasonable except in some short term scenarios.


> There's no reason why, over the long term, house prices should rise
> faster than incomes, is there?

You just said that it did! If rents are going up at inflation and home values are going up at 1% over that, you should buy a house as soon as you can after this event passes.

/jordan



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