I don't think people who rent have a right to complain about the housing market. If there's a toxic spill across the street, they can just pack up and move. They also can't complain about gentrification of "their neighborhood" since it's not really their neighborhood, they're just visitors.
Yeah it's the investor's neighbourhood! Despite the fact that they live in a fancy part of town in some other city, or in China, or they're a corporation. Screw the people who actually live there. It's not like they are the neighbourhood. /s
In addition, who do you think is selling the apartments to the Chinese investor corporation? It could be another nameless corporation, but it's equally likely to be the same people that you refer to as the real neighborhood. They certainly aren't complaining about gentrification on their way to the bank.
There's no need for snarkasm. You don't have to be a Chinese investor to buy an apartment. I simply have no sympathy for people who rent long term:
1) They can take off any time. A new job? A market crash? No problem, just pack your stuff and leave.
2) Someone else is doing all the maintenance and dealing with building codes and paying all the taxes, etc.
Because of the inherent risk in owning a home and the effort required to maintain it, it will always be cheaper to buy than rent. If someone likes their neighborhood, but isn't willing to commit and put in the work, they deserve what's coming for them.
That's decidedly untrue. In many markets you can make the case that conservative assumptions result in a cheaper buy option. However, the Bay Area in particular throws that calculus in reverse for many neighborhoods and property types.
Your argument seems to rely on the premise that buying is monteraily cheaper in the long run as long as you're willing to put in nominal sweat equity and risk. And that labor buys you some sort of citizenship that money, for the same amount of tenure, does not. The Bay Area market does not reward that puritanical ethic.
Can you explain how buying in Bay Area can be more expensive than renting? The only reason I can think of is that there's an expectation that the property will appreciate greatly in the near term and can be sold for a profit, but eventually either the rents will raise to be above the buy option (in which case congrats to those who bought, well done) or someone will be left holding the bag.
So yes, I'll concede that in the temporary situation that buy is more expensive than rent, and there's a market correction coming, it's savvy to rent, but those aren't the folks that cry "Gentrification!".
And yes, owning a deed to your place or, even better, owning a business in the neighborhood, counts for more than just "having been there".
