For all the talk about our "housing crisis", there is little media or politician discussion about what makes housing expensive here or many, many other places. The build-our-way-out of it people, like the YIMBYs, just focus on the four walls. As the letter writer below noted, it's tiresome. It's also myopic. The WSJ chimes in today with a piece titled "Insurance and Taxes Now Cost More Than Mortgages for Many Homeowners: Ballooning expenses rewrite the math of homeownership". The piece zeroes in on home insurance, flood/fire insurance, property taxes and home repair costs and shows
These ballooning expenses are rewriting the math of homeownership. In September, 32% of the average single-family mortgage payment went to property taxes and home insurance, the highest rate ever for data going back to 2014, according to Intercontinental Exchange. For a small but increasing share of households, the burden is far more significant. In five major metro areas—Rochester and Syracuse, N.Y.; Omaha, Neb.; New Orleans and Miami—at least a quarter of borrowers spend more than half their monthly mortgage payment on taxes and insurance, according to ICE.
These metro areas have high property taxes or pricey home insurance relative to typical home costs, or both. Nationwide, taxes and insurance make up more than half of the monthly mortgage payment for 9% of single-family mortgages. That is up from less than 4% at the end of 2014.
Left out of the equation because of how the study gathered data are the other costs--electricity, natural gas, garbage, sewer/water and bond measures for schools and anything else the politicians can dream up (looking at you Caltrain and sea level rise). A major variable will always be interest rates, but all of these other factors just pile on and increases get waved through regularly.
One could even argue the YIMBY mentality will make it all worse. More grid, more water, more sewage treatment, more classrooms, more, more, more. Decarbonize your house in the next 10 years? That won't be easy or cheap as we noted here. Looking at all of the costs in total reveals the real story--not the faddish one.
Yesterday's headlines in every paper blared "Homeless count up 18%". Some noted that comes on top of +12% last year, making for a total of +32% -- up by a third in two years. The Chron spun it differently on-line than in print. On-line California is "only" up 3% to 187,000.
California’s homeless population rose 3% from early 2023 to early 2024, according to a new national report released Friday, which showed the Golden State was doing a better job than most states at stemming the tide of homelessness.
The number of homeless people sleeping in California shelters increased nearly 9% from 2023 to 2024 while unsheltered homelessness — people sleeping in vehicles, in tents or on sidewalks — rose 0.45%, according to the report.
The figures reflect hundreds of billions of dollars invested by state and local governments in recent years to build new shelter beds and move people out of encampments. California has more than 208,500 year-round sheltered beds — nearly 6% more than a year prior and the most of any state in the nation.
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The spin continued in the Chron by virtue of omission. Every other paper noted that housing shortages were caused by natural disasters (Lahaina wildfire, hurricanes, etc), fentanyl and massive illegal immigration. Not the Chron on-line. Even the AP let that last bit slip through. In the last four years, 11-13M people had to go somewhere. Supply meet demand.
"If you like your R-1 zoning, you can keep your R-1 zoning"?
Posted by: Joe | December 29, 2024 at 04:36 PM
Sanctuary!
Come and get free stuff!
Posted by: Cassandra | December 29, 2024 at 04:51 PM
Twenty four billion dollars worth of free stuff in five years. And he wants to be president.
Posted by: Phinancier | December 29, 2024 at 08:26 PM