Not sure about Canada, but I make way above the median in tech in California and I have zero interest in buying a home. Having a home would be a huge hassle when I look for new work every 3 or 4 years. The math shows a home in almost any area in the USA is only a financial benefit after 8 or more years of staying in that home (compared to an apartment), when taking closing costs, maintenance, large upfront interest, and other moving costs.
i live in Canada and luckily bought a house about 5 years ago before this all went crazy. one of the main reasons I bought is because my mortgage payment is and was half of what rent would be in a comparable house and i get all my money back if I decide to sell and move on . i don't make a ton of money but my house is a great safety net and by the time i retire i will have zero monthly payments be it rent or mortgage.
its crazy tho , my friend is looking to buy the same house as mine , same layout etc and its more than double what i paid for mine in the span of 5 years. our kids will never be able to enter the real estate market and will be living with roommates or in dads basement for ever.
> Having a home would be a huge hassle when I look for new work every 3 or 4 years.
Most people want to put down roots somewhere; that might be you as well one day. And those people will not want to rent forever, because that puts them at the risk of reno-viction. Imagine having to move every few years, not for a better job, but because your landlord jacked up the rent massively and there aren't any laws preventing them from doing that.
Bingo, it sucks to live with kids in a condo because condos aren't built for families, neither are the neighborhoods with condos. There's other ways to build density without packing everyone into sad sardine cans.
There’s no inherent limitation on having a family friendly condo.
In many European countries families live in condos. And they can have great amenities like a swimming pool and a playground. And quite spacious. With highly dense walkable and even car-free neighbourhoods.
Sure you might not have a huge own backyard but there’s probably a park nearby where you can socialize with people.
It's also a hedge against rent, though in that case one must do a lot of maintenance personally.
As to kids, those of us who grew up in suburbia have a fondness for a yard, garden, and air gap between living spaces. Now if only the former owner had not put so many landscaping pebbles and bushes...
Historically the breakeven point is 5-7 years. It changes though: it can go down to 3 years if property values are rising quickly, and can go up to 10 years if property values tank right after you purchase.
In our current high-inflation environment it makes a little more sense than usual to borrow money and sink that money into an appreciating asset, which is why there's still such strong demand for homes despite the higher interest rates. In a high inflation environment, rents go up, home values go up, salaries go up, but mortgage amounts do not.
The advice remains the same. If you know you're going to stay in the same spot for a decade (if you have young children for example) you should probably buy a spot if you can afford it. If you know you're definitely going to move in less than 5 years you should probably rent. If you're somewhere in between, you should make the decision that's best for you. There are non-financial advantages to owning a home and non-financial advantages to renting.
Local laws vary a lot in how much protection they give to renters. Here in the UK I absolutely wouldn't want to be renting, you have very little security and can be (legally) kicked out with a couple of months' notice in most cases. Whereas in Germany it's my understanding that renters essentially can never be kicked out unless they do something egregious, and it's usual for people to choose to rent for life.
> Whereas in Germany it's my understanding that renters essentially can never be kicked out unless they do something egregious
That's a double edge sword. Would you rent your place to people knowing they can stop paying and trash your place and you can't get rid of them? I'm not a landlord but this scenario would scare the hell out of me, which is probably why German landlords ask for so may documents(bordering on privacy violation), and are so picky when choosing tenants that apartment hunting is basically a part time job in Germany.
>it's usual for people to choose to rent for life
Most people don't choose the rental life, but they don't have a choice, since property prices in German cities are far out of reach of the middle class who doesn't have inherited wealth or financial assistances from parents.
Renting is fine when you're young and employed, but owning your place of living outright by the time of your retirement, is still better for you financially, than having to pay rent as a retiree, as most likely rental costs will go up faster than inflation and wage growth as per current trajectory, and your pension will be too small to pay for living costs and rent on top of that meaning you'll struggle with poverty like some retirees in Germany today, but on a larger scale. Whereas if you pay off your mortgage until then, your retirement will be much less stressful.
Oh, and it will get even worse from here as Germany is refusing to build, to reduce CO2 emissions apparently, and increase migration will put additional pressure over existing housing stock. Great for throe who already own, not for those new to the market.
House prices in Germany are 120% of the average for the whole EU and looking at the graph they seem to be slightly higher than the middle of the pack. They certainly don't seem to be outrageously unaffordable, unlike Ireland. (source: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/digpub/housing/bloc-2a.h...)
Yet percentage wise more people own in Ireland than in Germany. Ireland saw the bigger growth rate in the last 10 years, but Germany was already quite expensive in that period.
Yep, 100% true. Have seen first-hand the difference between Germany and Australia, Australia being like the UK here.
Now that doesn't make me interested in owning a series of investment properties, but I can totally understand a family that wants the security of owning their home in the UK/Australia
Tech workers in California are outliers. For most people in developed countries buying/investing real-estate is the only way to build wealth. Profits from real estate speculation is the only income that has low taxes here in Denmark.
