✔️ 2022-05-01 15:04:11 – Paris/France.
Can't young people buy a house because they spend money on Netflix and iPhones? Often, when young people complain that they cannot afford a house, they are answered by older people who, in their day, did not have a smartphone or Netflix, and thanks to this, they were able to save enough to buy a home.
Is this the secret of the happy owners? Are they playing with free programming and a used smartphone while tenants watch Netflix on their brand new iPhone ? Well, let's just say things aren't exactly like that.
There Was No Netflix In 1990, But There Was Something Similar
What would be the equivalent of Netflix in 1990? I think the closest thing would be Canal+. This channel, which broadcast partly open and partly encrypted, was the greatest generalization of pay television in Spain. At first it cost 3 pesetas a month (advertising was advertised for twenty pesos a day) and offered movies, documentaries and sports not available on open TV (free). Soon the price would rise to 000 pesetas. Or from 4 to 000 euros.
Netflix subscription today is between €7,99 and €17,99 per month. The subscription to this service for 50 years would be between €4 and €794. Something that clearly does not allow the purchase of a house. There is also the fact that although Netflix does not allow account sharing, it is a very common practice to reduce its cost.
Another alternative to Netflix would be HBO Max, which is priced at €8,99/month or €69,99/year (and recently there was a €4,99/month offer). HBO's monthly price during 50 years would be €3 I think it is difficult to determine that having a service of Streaming under contract could mean a higher cost than what Canal+ meant in 1990 or renting movies from the video store.
Un iPhone being more expensive, the various Apple models appear in its own store for a price ranging from 529 € for theiPhone SE at €1 for theiPhone 13 PRO Max. It is also not a cost that is usually made every year, since a Smartphone can perfectly last two years. If we were talking aboutiPhone €13 to €909 every two years for 50 years, we would be talking about €22. Here we can maybe pay for the parking space of a new house in Madrid with this.
In other words, even renew theiPhone every two years (and without getting anything for the old one, despite the fact that Apple would give us a discount for this one) a iPhone and a Netflix or HBO Max package doesn't involve extreme strain on our personal finances that prevents us from buying a house. It is true that in 1990 there was noiPhone, but consumer electronics items such as personal computers, televisions, video recorders or music players had a higher price than today.
Housing and salaries in 1990, not what you expected
In 1990, according to this study by the BBVA Foundation, the average price per square meter in Spain was €498 per square meter. In other words, an 80 square meter house had a price of €39. All this from a period when, between 840 and 1981, housing prices increased by 1991%. In 400, the minimum wage in Spain was €1990 per month. In other words, access to said housing with the average salary was about 300,57 months, or more than ten years.
In 2021, the minimum wage in Spain was set at €964/month (divided into 14 installments). In Spain, the average housing price in 2021 was €1/square meter. That is to say that the average access to said house of 439 square meters supposes 80 months of work. 120 years just. So, are young people as good at buying a home or even better than they were in 10?
If we look at the unemployment rate It is not very different, going from 31,3% for those under 25 in December 2021 to 30,5% for workers between the ages of 20 and 24 in December 1990.
Then Are those who say the problem is spending money on Netflix and iPhones correct? Not exactly.
As several media have already indicated, the problem lies in the rents, the price of which is quite high, especially in Madrid and Barcelona, where young people generally go to rent (since these are the places where the most jobs are created in Spain) compared to rentals in less residential areas which involve spending more than 30% of your salary on rent. This ends up preventing them from saving and therefore from accessing property. Admittedly, home ownership is not as complicated as one might think at first glance.
What solution would you have? I personally think the adapted Singaporean model could provide us with a fairly acceptable option in the most stressed metropolitan areas. However, this is not the only model or the only way to provide affordable, quality housing.
But the problem in general lies in the limitations applied to the construction of housing in many places near the most stressed areas. We have to ask ourselves if what we want is abundant and affordable housing or if we want other things like protecting certain areas, keeping density artificially low, maintaining the scarcity and therefore the value of the houses purchased in certain areas, etc Are housing regulations designed to create affordable housing or to protect the investment of existing owners by limiting housing construction?
Ask the readers How do you think the housing problem should be solved?
SOURCE: Reviews News
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