[david927]

My feeling is that the pandemic and impending economic collapse will change that.

Remember when the 2008 crisis hit, no one was buying but no one was renting either. And a lot of banks with real estate on their books just let it sit there (where it sits today).

Once a the credit default domino chain starts to fall, people and organization will need to get liquid. The first stage will see some people jump in on pent-up demand but after that, real estate will fall through the floor. It will literally drop to near nothing in places.

[benrbray]

> no one was buying but no one was renting either.

As someone who was in eighth grade at the time, can you clarify what you mean by this? Every person either 1) buys property, 2) rents property, 3) goes homeless, or 4) dies. There aren't really any other choices.

[david927]

You're not alone -- it was quite surprising to a lot of people! What happened was the fifth option: move in with others, such as parents.

P.S. I just saw this article:

Mortgage Delinquencies Have Risen Fastest In US History

https://thewashingtonstandard.com/housing-crash-2-0-mortgage...

[tingletech]

from the point of view of the owner of an empty housing unit, if no one is buying and no one is renting then you are just left paying property tax and maintenance on an empty unit.

But, at least in my local market, it would surprise if the banks are sitting on empty units from 2008, as far as I know it all got auctioned off years ago.

This article predicts the covid crisis will center around a new collateralized debt instrument "[after post 2008 banking reform] [d]emand shifted to a similar—and similarly risky—instrument, one that even has a similar name: the CLO, or collateralized loan obligation. A CLO walks and talks like a CDO, but in place of loans made to home buyers are loans made to businesses—specifically, troubled businesses." https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/07/coronav... discussed at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23480680

[ArekDymalski]

Some additional options: staying with your parents; inheriting the property; marrying someone who owns a property.

[dasloop]

You can share so less people rent or going back to your parents place (common in Spain for example, in where families use to live in the same city)

[barnesto]

Millions of people live in a van (#vanlife) or RV. You can work from anywhere and when the sights get boring you drive to the next place.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

It can be pretty awesome.

For a while.

For a lifetime? I think not.

ps. I've done 9 months/6 months/3 months in my van with my wife. We love it, but it's not a home, it's a journey.

[cortesoft]

5) pack more people into the house and split rent

[benrbray]

Still technically renting, though :)

[cortesoft]

Sure, but it is the same effect on rental demand... one person renting a house and one person being homeless consumes the same amount of housing as two people sharing a rental house

[freeone3000]

(3) and (4) have nearly infinite growth potential.

[JKCalhoun]

If banks let real estate sit on their books, why did the real estate market crash? I remember seeing whole neighborhoods of new homes in Las Vegas going for $100K just to move them.

[david927]

It wasn't all real estate for all banks, and individuals were getting out, of course.