- Teachers, first responders, restaurant workers and, surprisingly, computer programmers have the hardest time affording a home near their jobs.
- Real estate listing company Trulia defines affordability as one’s monthly payment on housing taking up no more than 31 percent of one’s paycheck
- Demand is high and supply is low, especially at the lower end of the housing scale.
Barely a decade after the worst housing crash in history, home prices are soaring, and fewer buyers are able to afford the homes they want. In fact, a growing number of Americans, including tech workers who are paid relatively well, are unable to live in the same communities where they work.
Teachers, first responders, restaurant workers and, surprisingly, computer programmers have the hardest time affording a home near their jobs. This is according to a new study by Trulia, a real estate listing company.
Researchers there used the latest median wage data for each occupation group from the Labor Department’s employment report, and then calculated the share of homes for sale in each market that are affordable to each category of worker. They define affordability as one’s monthly payment on housing taking up no more than 31 percent of one’s paycheck. They included homeowners’ association fees on the property, property tax and insurance into the affordability.
In tech-heavy California, where workers in the sector make six-figure salaries, very few can afford to buy a home. In San Francisco, programmers can afford just 5 percent of the homes for sale, and in San Jose barely 12 percent, according to Trulia. These workers earned a median wage of $122,993 in San Francisco and $115,660 in San Jose, but median home prices in both cities are well over a million dollars.
www.cnbc.com/2018/04/06/more-tech-workers-cant-afford-to-live-where-they-work.html
Richest 1% on target to own two-thirds of all wealth by 2030
The world’s richest 1% are on course to control as much as two-thirds of the world’s wealth by 2030, according to a shocking analysis that has lead to a cross-party call for action.
World leaders are being warned that the continued accumulation of wealth at the top will fuel growing distrust and anger over the coming decade unless action is taken to restore the balance.
An alarming projection produced by the House of Commons library suggests that if trends seen since the 2008 financial crash were to continue, then the top 1% will hold 64% of the world’s wealth by 2030. Even taking the financial crash into account, and measuring their assets over a longer period, they would still hold more than half of all wealth.
www.theguardian.com/business/2018/apr/07/global-inequality-tipping-point-2030