Onerous planning regulations and cheap debt pushed house prices into the stratosphere – and it’s in the interests of the political elite to keep them there
This is true. While wages have gone nowhere in the past 40 years, stock prices are through the roof and interest rates are practically at 0% for the rich, meaning the rich can borrow money for nothing and buy up all the homes, which they have been doing.
Why are interest rates so low? It’s because governments are refusing to inject money into their economies to help them grow, something they’ve done in the past (New Deal anyone?) But this time around they claim that the “fear of inflation” won’t allow them to do that.
Inflation? Are you insane? Low interest rates, even negative interest rates in some countries, indicates that by definition, inflation doesn’t exist. It’s the exact opposite.
But who do these low and negative interest rates benefit? Oh yeah, that’s right, the rich.
And what are the rich doing with all this free money? Buying up and driving up the price of all the homes that the rest of us should have been able to buy, but now can’t afford.
Got it.
Oh, and it doesn’t just affect those buying homes. Rent prices go up as well do to higher demand. The result of that? A recent study found that rent prices are so high in cities like Los Angeles, the majority of renters can no longer afford to live there.
