I do wish they would decline. My wife and I were discussing how none of our young friends (responsible professionals) are finding it possible to afford a house. My 9-year-old daughter asked for more info, and my wife explained that housing prices have gone up much faster than wages over the last 10 years. And that we wouldn't have been able to afford our own house under these circumstances.

My daughter said, "What will happen to us (her and her siblings), then?"

What indeed?

Anonymous wrote:I sort of do. Our house is overpriced. Even I can see that. We can’t upgrade because the houses we’d consider are going up faster than ours. The percentage may be the same but the dollar gap grows bigger. Also, my kids will never be able to purchase anywhere in the DC region at this rate. Our young adult college grad daughter works full time and can’t even afford rent within an hour commute of Bethesda.

We feel like we upgraded but financially downsized at the same time -- but there was a big tradeoff: location/commute.

We are selling our FCC home (which was 1990's nice, but definitely nothing special, on a postage stamp lot), to move to a gorgeous custom-design home (not designed by us, but by the people we bout it from) on 5 acres on the Occoquan. Paid a little over 700k for the new house, and expect the old one to sell for about 1.2M.

So we are pulling money out and have a nicer home. Commute is going to be hellish, though. But DH is close to retirement, so only a couple more years of the commute for him, and I do not need to commute every day and can do more wfh. So it did make sense. Culturally, it will be a bit different (access to restaurants, etc), but we will adjust. It's worth it.

I don't mind if it is flat for long time to come.
You sell low and you buy low but helps new buyers.

Anonymous wrote:I am really happy that our house is overpriced. Sadly we are divorcing and selling. We have own for 5 years and it went from $550k to $860k. I don't care what people say a tiny old ugly less than 2k sqft house should not be worth this much. But I don't care I'll take the overvaluation.

Why can’t people understand that for most places with high housing values, the value isn’t in the house, it’s in the land - usually due to its location and/or size.

I moved into current house 4 years ago. 2 years of booking “values” on Zillow (and I can see how houses in the neighborhood sell).

It has been down and up and down and up for the last 9 months or so.

Anonymous wrote:It seems weird to expect people who own an asset to hope the value will go down so that someone else can afford to buy it. If housing values drop, some people will be underwater, lose all equity and may be forced to sell. This would benefit you nicely but that other family just lost their home.

It’s similar to the whining as to why boomers aren’t updating their homes AND pricing them as if they aren’t updated, so new buyers get a better deal and hassle free move in ready with HGTV design.

The housing crisis is about basic high density housing and fast, reliable public transit not being available leading people into homelessness or sitting in their car 3-4 hours a day commuting. The housing crisis is NOT you not being able to afford a nice SFH near walkable restaurants, great school district and short commute.

Agree with all of this. I'm also sick of hearing people whining about boomers not gifting them a renovated house for far below market value. I'm sick of the boomer-blaming ageism in general (and no, I'm not a boomer).

Anonymous wrote:It seems weird to expect people who own an asset to hope the value will go down so that someone else can afford to buy it. If housing values drop, some people will be underwater, lose all equity and may be forced to sell. This would benefit you nicely but that other family just lost their home.

It’s similar to the whining as to why boomers aren’t updating their homes AND pricing them as if they aren’t updated, so new buyers get a better deal and hassle free move in ready with HGTV design.

The housing crisis is about basic high density housing and fast, reliable public transit not being available leading people into homelessness or sitting in their car 3-4 hours a day commuting. The housing crisis is NOT you not being able to afford a nice SFH near walkable restaurants, great school district and short commute.

+1. Despite having one basic car that takes us from point A to point B, the share of transportation in our household budget is honestly absurd.

I am really happy that our house is overpriced. Sadly we are divorcing and selling. We have own for 5 years and it went from $550k to $860k. I don't care what people say a tiny old ugly less than 2k sqft house should not be worth this much. But I don't care I'll take the overvaluation.

OP it's not unique to the US. I recently sold a property that I inherited in a very poor country in Africa. I was expecting maybe $100k and I sold it for $500k. We are talking about a country with a GDP per Capita less than $1000. Of course I was happy. I am even more happy that I sold it now because it's clearly a bible waiting to beust, but then people over there told me the increase in property values has been constant for the last 20 years.

We will simply reach a point where wages won't be able to keep.up and only a fraction will be able to buy. When we get to that point what will happen to home values then? I don't know.

In the context of get US assuming immigration is severely restricted, low birth rates consist and aging accelerate, in that scenario can we still expect home values to keep rising? Again I don't know

One thing is clear every single homeowner wants endless increase me included lol.

I sort of do. Our house is overpriced. Even I can see that. We can’t upgrade because the houses we’d consider are going up faster than ours. The percentage may be the same but the dollar gap grows bigger. Also, my kids will never be able to purchase anywhere in the DC region at this rate. Our young adult college grad daughter works full time and can’t even afford rent within an hour commute of Bethesda.

Anonymous wrote:Should current homeowners wish for home values to decline?

Hones are simply overvalued. Some argue simply and demand I don't know maybe but in many parts of the country homes are simply overvalued.

Historically, troubles in our economy can always be traced somehow to real.estate.

So many people are now priced out because home values just can't stop increasing.

I think the fact that so many people in this country have a sizeable portion of their wealth in real.estate, and the government staring at unsustainable debt, policymakers sure do want home values going up to "mask" households dependence on real estate

Yes. I told my realtor I wish my home would fall in value to one dollar. My property taxes are set at one percent of value so I would pay 1 cent a year property taxes and I could drop homeowners insurance as who needs to pay $3,000 a year to insure something worth one dollar.

Wait, you think current homeowners should want their assets to be worth less?

Look from a societal benefit perspective, yes I believe in housing affordability. But the reality is that doing that in a healthy sustainable way takes time and effort. It isn't achieved by a quick housing crash.

As we've seen from 2008, crashing the housing market just causes financial chaos and the ultimate result is large corporations swoop in and purchase rhe forceclosed real estate, transferring long term wealth further away from the middle class.

It seems weird to expect people who own an asset to hope the value will go down so that someone else can afford to buy it. If housing values drop, some people will be underwater, lose all equity and may be forced to sell. This would benefit you nicely but that other family just lost their home.

It’s similar to the whining as to why boomers aren’t updating their homes AND pricing them as if they aren’t updated, so new buyers get a better deal and hassle free move in ready with HGTV design.

The housing crisis is about basic high density housing and fast, reliable public transit not being available leading people into homelessness or sitting in their car 3-4 hours a day commuting. The housing crisis is NOT you not being able to afford a nice SFH near walkable restaurants, great school district and short commute.

Should current homeowners wish for home values to decline?

Hones are simply overvalued. Some argue simply and demand I don't know maybe but in many parts of the country homes are simply overvalued.

Historically, troubles in our economy can always be traced somehow to real.estate.

So many people are now priced out because home values just can't stop increasing.

I think the fact that so many people in this country have a sizeable portion of their wealth in real.estate, and the government staring at unsustainable debt, policymakers sure do want home values going up to "mask" households dependence on real estate