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Wednesday, November 06, 2019

Shilling: Millennials Should Be Happy They Are Stuck Renting

Millennials spend a lot of time bemoaning their inability to buy a home, forcing them to keep renting. They should want to stay renters, if they know what’s good for them financially.

It’s generally believed that appreciation in home values is what created middle-class wealth in earlier decades. But that was only because monthly loan payments forced homeowners to save and eventually retire their mortgage debt. Most of the rise in single-family house prices over time is due to larger new structures with more marble bathrooms, fancier kitchens, etc.

The quality-adjusted house price index, developed by Prof. Robert Shiller of Yale University, removes this upward price bias by comparing the prices of the same house when it is sold repeatedly over time.

It shows that average quality-adjusted single-family house prices, corrected for overall inflation, have risen a paltry 1.1% at a compound annual rate since 1972. The reason the results have an upward bias at all is that they don’t adjust for interim owners doing upgrades.

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Right. Let them eat cake.

Anonymous said...

So I will be the first to say that sometimes, people should be happy for the things they have and not worry about what they do not have, but it sounds like to me he is trying to take part of the American dream away

Anonymous said...

CPI is a lie. Wake up!

Anonymous said...

You never really own a home. They still tax the heck out of you and if you can't/don't pay they take the home away from you.

Anonymous said...

Good paying jobs and discipline is what created the middle class. To rebuild the middle class, corporate greed has to be eliminated by any and all means.

Anonymous said...

You sure as hell won't find any good paying jobs around here. Retail and food services are about it unless you are a doctor, lawyer or Indian chief.

Steve said...

Mortgages have an end date. Rent never ends. Retirement is not an option for a renter.

Think about that.

Anonymous said...

So, when did Grandma start charging rent?

Anonymous said...

The trades pay pretty well. Especially union utility workers jobs.