Add to that all the people who have two homes. That's soaking up labor resources and housing supply.
I have enough to do with my one house. But a lot of our church friends have two. A lot on this board have two. This was not typical a generation ago.
Totally agree.
And those few individuals who did have a second home when I was a kid, a select few of many great aunts and uncles, these second homes aren’t what they once were in the past.
Second homes now are luxurious, every amenity possible, spacious, better than many live in as their primary home.
A second home amongst these more distant relatives was definitely seasonal. You had a hand pump for water, dumped a 5 gallon bucket of water in the tank to flush the toilet. Or a chemical toilet and a small cottage or a trailer on leased land, centrally located showers and plumbing, you hauled fresh water to your cottage. And these were on leased land or land obtained cheaply, improved over time, these being limited in scope. My uncles and aunts were a bit established when they got these places, probably in their 30s, and by the time I came around, they were retired and in their 70s. As a kid, the rustic lifestyle was fun. Kids today wouldn’t even think these places to be habitable.
What has happened to society is that everyone thinks they deserve the very best in life, a first class lifestyle. Which is why cruise ships look like floating hotels. Go back to the days of the Titanic. The lucky few were in first class, a few more in second class, and the vast majority were in third class. Look at where your ancestors would have been at that time had they traveled, and most likely third class.
So, the masses cannot all have luxury homes and multiple ones, and there are more “masses” today than in the past, and so something has to give and with increased demand and less supply, the first time homebuyer gets the squeeze.
It still has to be a select few who have a second home or more, but you turn on the TV or talk to associates and it sounds like everyone but you has one.