236
submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this week to its highest level in more than 20 years, grim news for would-be homebuyers already challenged by a housing market that remains competitive due to a dearth of homes for sale.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 35 points 1 year ago

Zoning laws have a small part to play. The biggest issue is the privatization of the housing market. The government needs to get involved in building single family homes.

[-] TurnItOff_OnAgain@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

More people need to take advantage of the USDA home loan program

https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/single-family-housing-programs/single-family-housing-direct-home-loans

We were able to buy our house with 0 down. Our state even has a program where they foot up to 5k in closing costs. We started at 3.875% and refinanced to 2.875 when the rates plummeted a few years later to get rid of the PMI.

That's great if you qualify, but you have to be below a certain income threshold. Not everyone does.

[-] GlitzyArmrest@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

It should be noted that the income threshold varies and is based on your local area.

[-] rambaroo@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Yes, it's means treated nonsense that only helps a portion of the people who need help, as designed

[-] Diplomjodler@feddit.de 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Zoning laws absolutely play a huge part. They are the main tool of NIMBYs to prevent new construction of affordable housing.

[-] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

If you think developers well build housing that is affordable for the average American once zoning laws are changed, I have a bridge to nowhere to sale you. Zoning is an issue but there needs to be a counter balance of none profit based housing. Many modern nations have already switched the bulk of their housing to the nonprofit model and it works! Once zoning is changed Best case scenario is apartment buildings with rent no one can afford. We need more home owners in America. But the whole industry is focused on building rental properties.

[-] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

I think we are saying the same thing. Even without zoning, now all that would change is chemical plants and dumps popping up around working class communities. Wealthy people will snap up rezoned land close to their houses. The housing crisis goes way deeper than just zoning laws, to the point they are just a tool of many.

The tldr version: zoning was initially used to keep minorities out of areas and was changed into it's current form once the majority of money had already pooled in to too few hands.

[-] Diplomjodler@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago

The alternative to shitty zoning laws is not abolishing zoning laws, you know?

[-] NatakuNox@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

The alternative is government building single family homes using eminent domain. I'm not saying zoning isn't a issue but places have tried removing them and developers have zero incentive to build affordable housing.

[-] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Small part? My city is getting richer and richer while rents are exploding all the while my block is dying because zoning laws won't let any of it be changed.

[-] Turkey_Titty_city@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

zoning laws are the biggest single factor in limiting development, housing or otherwise.

[-] Uranium3006@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago

When it's literally illegal to build dense housing within 50 miles of a big city it makes a big diffrence

this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
236 points (99.6% liked)

News

23275 readers
1340 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS