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The greatest builder of wealth inequality is real estate prices. Most of the fortunes in this country are based in real estate, and that includes (gag) the president-elect. Many categories of small business have been wiped by by the internet, but a more important reason is the cost of rents. People may not care, until they seek a service not offered by the internet. So be it, people find things out the hard way, almost always, yours truly included. The society of button-pushers that we have is one that's largely unaware of the ground they walk upon. Watch out for that pothole, dummy!
almost unintelligible.
your main point is that real estate builds wealth? awesome! and not new.
monkframe
@
2017 Jan 13, 9:26pm
"...your main point is that real estate builds wealth? awesome! and not new."
No, wealth inequality. Try reading for content and meaning.
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A new column by economist Dean Baker:
July 27, 2016
The Return of the Housing Bubble???????
Okay, it's not like the good old days of 2002–2007, but there are some grounds for concern in certain markets. In particular, the Case-Shiller tiered price indexes are showing extraordinary increases in the bottom tier (lowest third of house sale prices) in several markets.
For example, the index shows that in Denver prices in the bottom tier have risen by 16.7 percent over the last year and by 49.8 percent over the last three years. The comparable figures for the top tier are 6.4 percent and 21.4 percent. The CPI owner equivalent rent (OER) index has risen by 19.6 percent over the last three years.
In Portland, the one years increase for the bottom tier has been 16.2 percent and the three year 44.4 percent. For the top tier, the increases have been 9.9 percent and 26.3 percent. Rents have risen 16.3 percent over the last three years. In Los Angeles, prices in the bottom teir have risen 8.9 percent in the last year and 37.8 percent over the last three years. That compares to 7.0 percent and 21.1 percent for the top tier. Rents have risen by 9.9 percent over the last three years.
In Chicago, prices in the bottom tier have risen by 40.7 percent over the last three years and in Miami by 55.6 percent. Rents over this period rose in the two cities by 6.9 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively.
These numbers should provide serious grounds for caution. This is not a story of a bubble whose collapse will sink the economy and cause a financial crisis, but there is a real possibility that a lot of moderate-income homebuyers may get badly burned if prices turn around. The real estate pushers never care, since they make their money on the turnover, but it won't be a pretty picture for the families affected.