True to my promise, I'm always out there hunting for obscure stories that other media outlets miss or do not take seriously. Bloomberg came out with a surprising article stating that Americans are moving to Europe to lower housing prices. Here is the article if you are curious:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-20/americans-moving-to-europe-housing-prices-and-strong-dollar-fuel-relocations
I found this fascinating. At one point I
had given serious thought to moving Elena and me to Norway. I researched the
housing market there. It was slightly more pricey than the San Francisco Bay
area. I'm quite familiar with the Southern British housing market. The area
around London is just as expensive as the Bay area. The same can be said for
Switzerland.
Many people have been “locked out" of
the US housing market. I bought my first house in Falls Church, Virginia, in
February of 1972 (I was 24 years old.) The price was a rousing $22,000 US.
Since I was an active-duty military person, I got a 100% loan to buy the
property. My house payment was a couple of hundred dollars a month.
Young people in the US and other countries
today face a harsh and different reality. Housing prices have gone up
geometrically. There is also an acute shortage of houses for sale. Around where
we live, the average house goes for well in excess of one million US. Most
purchases are "all cash deals" (Very wealthy people and people who
have sold a prior high-priced house and are flush with cash.) Even if someone
wanted to finance a purchase with a mortgage (bond for my British friends) the
monthly payments would be staggering. Owners selling houses would not wait for
the cumbersome process of getting a loan approved.
In many other US cities, there used to be
low-cost housing where young people could buy their "starter home"
and start to build equity and move on to a larger house later.
Now massive investment companies buy up
these cheaper homes hundreds at a time. They fix these homes up and rent them
for high prices. Many young people see themselves being trapped as renters for
life.
I have no political agenda. I try to keep
politics out of my reporting. I want to be both informative and entertaining. I
have warned repeatedly that there are a massive number of people not only in
the US but in a lot of other countries who feel that they have been left behind
as others prospered. This is a recipe for some serious violence and social
unrest. I have warned both US political parties to start listening to these
people carefully! Neither party is handling this situation right now!!!
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