[the_shivers]

I wonder if this is actually bad.

There's an argument I see in favor of building luxury condos and apartments. If they're built, the richest people will vacate their current residences to live there. The next richest people vacate their current residences to move into the now empty residences of the richest people. The third richest group also upgrades to the now empty apartments of the second richest, and so on. At the end of the line, we see that everybody has upgraded, and I don't think this upgrade guarantees people pay more, at least in theory (supply increased while demand remained constant, after all).

Could this happen with cars? Seems like we're moving into a world where instead of the options being nice-new and shitty-new, the options are nice-new and nice-old. Maybe that's not so bad.

(As an aside, their analysis seems pretty flawed by not adjusting for inflation.)

[mikestew]

The flaw in your comparison is when I move out of my bottom-end house to move up the housing ladder, a developer comes in and buys my affordable house, and proceeds to put a 4500 sq. ft. monstrosity on the 7500 sq. ft. lot, thereby pricing out the bottom-end. I see this constantly in the Seattle suburbs of Redmond and Kirkland. Especially Kirkland; at the rate they're going, there won't be any "starter homes" in Kirkland in ten years.

And, yeah, the "2017->2023" comparison irked me as well, with not a single nod to the highest inflation we've seen in over a generation in those intervening years.

[Red_Leaves_Flyy]

These logical errors are rampant in any discussion regarding housing, healthcare, education, taxes, social services, and everything else that might inconvenience a billionaire ever so slightly.

[TexanFeller]

Traditionally higher end housing is better built, while traditionally economical cars like Corolla and Civic have been among the most long lasting with the lowest maintenance. Luxury cars typically require vastly more maintenance to keep going which is why they depreciate like stones after the warranty period. This is a big part of why I drive a basic car even though I make SWE dollars, I value durability. More luxury cars is probably bad for the common man and for the environment.

[mint2]

But Will they? Why would everyone choose to pay more just because large housing landlords wish it so?