Imagine some of the most expensive real estate in the world today becomes worthless. What could cause that? What does it mean?
Well, it is already happening. A very large, well known, commercial building just sold for 10¢ on the dollar.
On Wall Street there is some very expensive real estate, but what would happen if it is:
- underwater (literally, not just financially)
- the banks are closed, the NYSE is closed. The occupation of investment banker no longer exists.
- bitcoin and smart contracts have won. The dollar and bonds are gone
- most people who worked on Wall Street have been replaced by AI
In each of these cases, this ultra-pricey real estate, would only be worth something to someone who wanted to repurpose those buildings.
Further, this was where all the money was made. If you wanted a big loan, this is where you came to get it. If the people (investment bankers) are gone, then there is no loans to buy these structures. Meaning, that they would only be worth what someone could pay in cash. (or bitcoin)
Maybe some bitcoin-millionaire would buy them up for nostalgia reasons. (the values were in the billions)
What happens when the land changes?
So much real estate will lose most of its value when we see drastic changes in the earth
- earthquakes, mudslides, volcanoes and other earth moving natural disasters can cause real estate to become worthless, nearly overnight.
- the waters rising can change everything. Whether it is the ocean levels rising, or the continent edge sinking, all that prime real estate is now underwater. The Mississippi spills over its banks, hugely, well all those ports/docks and other river traffic terminals will be flooded or just washed away.
- the glaciers are coming. What happens when your hydroelectric stops because the river is frozen solid? What happens when you see the glaciers moving south, and there will only be so much time before you are covered in a sheet of ice.
- the weather patterns have shifted, and now, the rains no longer come, and your place no longer has any water.
All of these will be seen to happen. And some of the most expensive real estate will become worthless.
What happens when cities destroy themselves?
We have watched as San Francisco has gone from being one of the best, and most expensive, cities on the west coast, to being a place filled with human excrement and homeless camps. Where crime is rampant. Where business owners have left, calling it quits, after having to pick up trash and needles from in front of their store every morning.
Cities were never a good place for humans to live, but if you take away the attractions, the opportunities, the jobs… and you add in crime and homelessness then the people who can leave, do leave. (making the situation worse)
And then, the blue cities believe that the way to help is to introduce rent controls. Which will destroy the real estate values. (which the blue bureaucrats and their friends hope they can buy up for cheap) Unfortunately, what will happen is that people will leave the city and never come back, AND those who stay will believe they are entitled to a house (it is what the rhetoric is preaching) and they will just move into an empty one. And there will be many empty ones.
So, all this expensive real estate becomes something you can't sell.
What happens when you need to grow your own food or starve?
The homesteading movement will continue to grow.
With new inventions providing clean energy wherever you want to build, so many areas become usable, where before, only those who wanted to go off-grid would even think of moving there. With the advent of flying cars, roads become unnecessary. You can now set up your homestead anywhere you want to. And there is LOTS of land that currently is not being used.
The Great Migration is underway. People will be moving to be with their "family", their tribe. These groups will build their own communities, with multi-family houses that are much better for living and interacting. So much better than single-family garbage we see in the suburban-blight. Better in construction cost, better in usability, better in heating/cooling, better in allowing people to move around because their needs have changed…
And with food prices skyrocketing, the homestead life will seen as a much more economically viable option.
Can you imagine 100 close friends all getting together and moving to a homestead? (or even 20) Think of all the houses/apartments that are now empty.
This may have a bigger effect on the housing market than then boomers dumping 25% of the houses on the market.
With half of the suburban houses empty, who would spend money to buy a house?
With all the changes coming, real estate is not going to be what it was.
And, i believe there is more changes coming that will have everyone throwing out the idea of the crown (Real = King in Spanish) owning everything. We have already seen how it pushes the youth out of the community and leaves them homeless.
Real estate is only valuable if it is kept scarce (but not too scarce). And we have turned the corner, and are now facing demographic collapse. We will have so many houses left vacant. Entire housing tracts without any people in them. Ghost cities.
The "kings" are going to be very upset when people stop playing their game of Monopoly.