> Yes. And this takes many forms, whether that's hanging on to property long past you need it, staying in jobs past retirement,
You don't get to be upset that someone keeps their property for longer than you deem they need it, or telling people they should stop working to do nothing for their last 20 - 30 years of their life.
And how would forcing people to sell their house when they move out increases the number of houses??? Is still 1 house whether is being rented or owner occupied.
Speaking of hostile... Ironic to be telling people what they can do when you're unhappy about them doing the same!
As for me, I'm absolutely upset. Older homeowners sit on housing with multiple unused bedrooms in major cities (and everywhere else) while wages and construction have stagnated. It's another form of wealth concentration. Two 80-year-olds don't need a 6 bedroom mansion. Meanwhile there's families with kids (who by the way, societies depend on) out there with income to buy a home that are priced out of everything. Meanwhile the generationally wealthy family can continue to leverage their equity to buy up more property, further exarcebating the issue.
Let's not act like there's a moral ground here, it's all in self-interest and greed. And frankly many of us on HN are part of the problem (I know I am).
At least in the state where I live (WA) which is a non-recourse state is very hard (I would say impossible but that is a high bar) for an individual or a family to use existing real estate equity to buy more real estate.
Me and my wife own 4 properties. Each time we bought a property it was through a different lender (the cheapest one with the lowest interest rate). When it came time to existing rentals the paperwork wanted to know the lease agreement for the current tenants, monthly expenses and monthly rental income. There was no question about mortgage principal, nor about market value of real estate.
When we bought (yet) another property, the lender could not (and did not) use the existing real estate assets to secure the new loan. Each loan was secured by its property and nothing else.
You don't get to be upset that someone keeps their property for longer than you deem they need it, or telling people they should stop working to do nothing for their last 20 - 30 years of their life.