America's infrastructure is decaying — here's a look at how terrible things have gotten

[tower9]

a single family house like that in my area costs around $3m.

You must live in Silicon Valley. A house like that in most of America would be about $400,000 to $500,000.

 

[casual]

You must live in Silicon Valley. A house like that in most of America would be about $400,000 to $500,000.

still not something most Americans can afford

 

[vi-va]

You must live in Silicon Valley. A house like that in most of America would be about $400,000 to $500,000.

In my place (not Silicon Valley), my place is high tech as well, but a small city. It will cost 1 millions for 3000+ square feet. 1.5 millions for 4000+ square feet. Water front will double or triple the price.

In downtown area, It will cost 1 millions for 1200+ square feet. 1.5 millions for 2000+ square feet. Water front will double or triple the price.

Everyone can take a look at the price and house at
https://www.zillow.com/

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

Most people in the South still live in suburbs. Those impoverished rural towns make up a tiny percent of the overall population.

It depends on your idea of suburb and rural, it all kind of melds together, with ghettos and trailers too.

 

[Mista]

still not something most Americans can afford

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA646N

The median household income in the US is $63K, so I wouldn't say that it's 'not something most Americans can afford'.

In fact, the housing to price ratio in the US is among the lowest in the developed world.

Especially when compared to developed Chinese cities which some of the worst housing affordability in the world.

And SF has a median household income of above $100K.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MHICA06075A052NCEN

 

[t1000]

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA646N

The median household income in the US is $63K, so I wouldn't say that it's 'not something most Americans can afford'.

In fact, the housing to price ratio in the US is among the lowest in the developed world.

Thanks for this informative post.
In the above pic, HK was expected but damn I didn't expect Aus to be less affordable than SG and JPN.
JPN at the same level as the US is also an interesting piece of info.

 

[Mista]

Thanks for this informative post.
In the above pic, HK was expected but damn I didn't expect Aus to be less affordable than SG and JPN.
JPN at the same level as the US is also an interesting piece of info.

More than 80% of Singaporeans live in public housing called HDB. The info above is based on a report from Demographia, which the numbers for Singapore excluded government subsidies. If included, it's even more affordable especially for the poor who receive more subsidies when buying a small apartment.

And what is the actual situation? Last year, about 20,000 BTO flats were booked by Singaporeans, or we sold 20,000 BTO flats. For 3R flats, 90%, so almost all were sold below a quarter million dollars. 81% of 4R flats were sold below $350,000, and 89% of 5R flats were sold below $450,000. These are actual transactions. They paint a comforting picture of young Singaporeans being able to get their first BTO flat, well within their expected budget, and if we include housing grants, the picture looks even better. As far as housing is concerned, young Singaporeans are many times better off than their counterparts in London or Hong Kong. This is the reality.

I would like BTO prices to be within 4 years of an applicant’s annual salary. But this assumes that BTO applicants will be prudent in their choice of housing. An alternative to assess affordability is to see if a 25-year mortgage loan can be serviced mostly by monthly CPF contributions without much out-of-pocket cash payments. PM in his 2013 NDR used this approach and illustrated that families earning $1,000 were able to afford a 2R flat, $2,000 for 3R flat and $4,000 for 4R flat. Of course, as income grows, then the income thresholds have to be adjusted accordingly.

So in Singapore, home ownership is not a privilege of the rich only. The benefits of our homeownership policy have reached all income groups, including the lower income group. In January, in reply to a question in this House, I told this House that 744 families in the $1,000 to $1,200 income bracket had booked 2R or larger BTO flats launched between Mar 2012 and Jul 2014. 744 families, not a small number. The MP did not ask about those earning below $1,000. So let me provide the information. During the same period, another 1,491 families, almost 1,500 families, with household incomes below $1,000 had also booked a flat, 2R or larger. So when we said that families with $1,000 household income could afford 2R flats, we were not imagining things.

This happy state is the result of a conscious effort to help make Singaporeans home-owners. We strongly believe that home-owning families provide stability for our society and offer the best environment to bring up children. As Mencius (孟子) put it: strong family values and relationships are foundations of a stable society.

"天下之本在国，国之本在家” (The foundation of the World is the Nation. And the foundation of the Nation is a strong Family.)

https://www.mnd.gov.sg/newsroom/par...on-wan-family-matters-a-tale-of-five-families

For Japan, their average housing outside of Tokyo is actually affordable after the collapse of their property bubble and with a shrinking demography.

Even in Tokyo it's still fairly affordable.

 

[AViet]

with all the money printing it cannot fix these issues

Similar to their medical system: world's biggest budget, but it has proved to be poor quality.

In 2008 and 2015, Nytimes.com published two articles, which revealed that while construction of 1 km of underground metro in Guangzhou costs only ~ $100 millions, the number is ~ $2.8 billions for New York (25 - 28 times). And I highly doubt that the quality of New York metro can match that of Guangzhou's.

And of course everything is transparent and there is no corruption in the US.

 

[casual]

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA646N

The median household income in the US is $63K, so I wouldn't say that it's 'not something most Americans can afford'.

In fact, the housing to price ratio in the US is among the lowest in the developed world.

Especially when compared to developed Chinese cities which some of the worst housing affordability in the world.

And SF has a median household income of above $100K.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MHICA06075A052NCEN

that's above $100k pre-tax. after tax it's like $70k. Also the median savings per American is only $5200 meaning most are living paycheck to paycheck.

 

[Mista]

that's above $100k pre-tax. after tax it's like $70k. Also the median savings per American is only $5200 meaning most are living paycheck to paycheck.

It's the same lameass argument that the majority of Americans don't even have $1k of savings.

1) It's common to have multiple bank accounts with zero to little balance in them.

2) The interest rate for savings bank is extremely low. Many Americans would rather put their money in 401k, IRA, stocks and other investment vehicles beyond a certain threshold.

3) The average American household still hold far more assets than the average urban Chinese household.

And the majority of their assets are liquid, unlike for the Chinese who put 80% of their savings in property which is basically sunk cost unless you have multiple properties.

 

[vi-va]

It's the same lameass argument that the majority of Americans don't even have $1k of savings.

1) It's common to have multiple bank accounts with zero to little balance in them.

2) The interest rate for savings bank is extremely low. Many Americans would rather put their money in 401k, IRA, stocks and other investment vehicles beyond a certain threshold.

3) The average American household still hold far more assets than the average urban Chinese household.

And the majority of their assets are liquid, unlike for the Chinese who put 80% of their savings in property which is basically sunk cost unless you have multiple properties.

PPP term is more suitable for comparison. I buy 200$ vegetables and meat in Super Market for 1 week living in US. While I buy 30$ in China.

 

[Mista]

PPP term is more suitable for comparison. I buy 200$ vegetables and meat in Super Market for 1 week living in US. While I buy 30$ in China.

If you want to go by PPP, the GDP per capita of China is even lower than Thailand in 2019.

 

[AViet]

If you want to go by PPP, the GDP per capita of China is even lower than Thailand in 2019.

In my opinions, PPP is suitable to compare countries with similar capacity of industrial production, like German to France, China to the US, or Pakistan to India, Korea to Japan, so we can see in which countries, the standard of living is higher.

But it would be ridiculous to compare countries like Thailand to China using PPP. Thailand's capacity to manufacture various equipment is very limited, while China can manufacture almost everything. You cannot use PPP money to buy high-speed railways, metro train, excavator, military weapons, power generation steam turbine and gas turbine, etc. (which Thailand has to import and China can manufacture themselves). You can neither pay foreign experts by PPP money.

 

[Mista]

In my opinions, PPP is suitable to compare countries with similar capacity of industrial production, like German to France, China to the US, or Pakistan to India, Korea to Japan, so we can see in which countries, the standard of living is higher.

But it would be ridiculous to compare countries like Thailand to China using PPP. Thailand's capacity to manufacture various equipment is very limited, while China can manufacture almost everything. You cannot use PPP money to buy high-speed railways, metro train, excavator, military weapons, power generation steam turbine and gas turbine, etc. (which Thailand has to import and China can manufacture themselves). You can neither pay foreign experts by PPP money.

In my opinion, you guys are just shifting the goalpost whichever suits your argument or narrative lmao.

"Oh, we have to compare China with US using PPP. Oh wait no, it's ridiculous to compare Thailand and China using PPP! China is a manufacturing supapowa!"

Double standards.

 

[casual]

In my opinion, you guys are just shifting the goalpost whichever suits your argument or narrative lmao.

"Oh, we have to compare China with US using PPP. Oh wait no, it's ridiculous to compare Thailand and China using PPP! China is a manufacturing supapowa!"

Double standards.

Look, I'm just saying that people from outside of the US has this perception that the US has streets made of gold and I'm here in the richest city in the US and everything is falling apart and the streets are full of shit. Literally full of shit.