Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
As housing bulls were undoubtedly calling this guy a "bitter renter" who couldn't afford to buy and would be "priced out forever", I wonder if he will have the last laugh. Certainly looks that way thus far:
I don't know about this guy but in my other life as a local elected official I was making statements as far back as 2004 that the price run-ups we were seeing in assessments and sale prices couldn't last and I was crucified at meetings and in the local media by a couple developers. One went so far as to threaten to sue me for libel. That didn't happen and that particular developer has now withdrawn from our market citing "market conditions and excessive prices paid for properties make development infeasible for the foreseeable future."
People continually want to cite the "california premium" as the reason for the continued high real estate costs here.
Ok, fine. It seems to be true and not a myth. Its held at around 3-5x income depending on the current status of the RE market over the past 40 or so years. IE, if there's been a bubble, the ratio of price to income has been around 5. If there has been a depression in the CA real estate market, the ratio has been closer to 3. Contrast this to the rest of the nation over the same time period where the ratio(except in certain similiar markets) has been under 3 and fairly consistent.
However, currently LA county housing is a median of around 6x average household income. In an extremely depressed market bombarded with distressed housing. Take out places where few will buy and live(like Compton) and the ratio is worse. OC is worse and is currently around 7x average household income. Also focus that certain Los Angeles neighborhoods have ridiculous ratios of 10x plus. I'll also note that many of these neighborhoods are traditionally very middle class areas. Something like Culver City or Burbank.
What this all means is that the bulls, at least in So Cal, are done for. Cooked and burned. They are just to ignorant and purposely blind to all the indicators. Its akin to being strapped to a stake with fire burning all around and claiming there is no fire. You can see the fire. You can feel it. But you choose to ignore those indicators and claim there is no fire. You will just point out how happy you are to be warm.
LOL.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
