I can't fathom why anyone would overpay for these properties when climate catastrophes loom- especially for hot coastal regions. They'd better hope they can flip it to a bigger sucker before that beach is underwater.
Lol, you're probably right that there'll be a speculation boom as people try their best to make a quick buck without being left holding the bag. Like a game of musical chairs in the steerage level of the Titanic. Amazing
I read an article by a journalist who asked a realtor at a showing for a beachfront property about rising sea levels and they said something like yeah but that's only a problem about 40 years into the future so you can easily live here one generation and sell it before shit hits the fan. :fucking-aquaman?:
Matt Yglesias: Capitalism is going to solve climate change any second now :squidward-nervous:
Granted, I'm sure this is what most capitalists would consider a "solution" to climate change.
They'll tell us that we'll just have to "learn to live with it" like they're doing with COVID.
they'd better hope they can flip it to a bigger sucker before the beach is underwater.
I have a suspicion that the increase in sale is just that. These people are the bigger suckers, and the og owners have cashed out in time.
The trick is to keep inflating the tech bubble to prop up the housing bubble. As long as the same 45 white guys keep needing houses to spend money on, it can't fail! Marking the value of your own assets is how you know you've got real money.
People are going to be divesting in coastal property. So you buy it up on the long-term hope that the government will have to buy it from you at some point. There's going to be a property crisis because everyone's values are dropping due to flooding. To keep the market afloat the government steps in and buys those properties. It's good property for the government own because they can build flood walls . If not, you own tons of new coast line. Demolish, build more, you own all of Palm Beach. At some point there are no more ice caps to melt. The ocean will only get so high, even with thermal expansion. So you just have to wait until then.
Very bad investment idea though. Can't wait to see the Adam McKay movie about it playing on the TV in my hospital room as I slip off my mortal coil.
Yeah the government angle isn't really thought out. They could eminent domain it but then there's court battles. Remember that even Trump couldn't do it for his wall without a lengthy court battle. And that's with the fash-lite in charge. But even if they paid out for the land, they're not going to pay 2021 prices. They'll pay 2040 prices, which will be lower.
I think the waiting out the storm angle works better. Once all the ice is gone there's nothing other than thermal expansion to cause rise. If you buy big enough tracts you will now own a lot of nice beach land, even if you lose some structures. Then you can sell it for development. If there's one lesson we should have learned, is that people aren't going to learn. They're not going to see the coastline change before their eyes and decide having beach resorts isn't a good idea. They're not going to stop building houses on the coast just because something bad happened. But an investment that long, this could take 20 years or more, is super risky. Normally long term investments are attractive because they're less risky. But this has too many ways it could go wrong. Including the government forcing them to give it up. The problem is also a matter of price. Buying a $20mil property in 2021 and selling it for $5 min 2040 isn't good. The only way it would work is if you or just a few cohorts own it all and can fix prices. Then you just have to hold on selling until development is begging you to buy it. But then again they could just choose to develop new areas that take off in popularity and make your property even more worthless.
IDK. There's a reason they're doing it. I can't really think like a capitalist even when I try. Maybe it is a more short term thing where they hope they can take advantage of a bubble and get out before there's even any flooding.
Capitalism once again casually celebrating genocide and mass extinction as a good thing
"We're the good guys!"
Yes, mr. Realtor, that beachfront McMansion built from drywall and cardboard looks really nice but are you sure you don't have something on top of a mountain? Something easily defensible with a natural source of water and arable land?
The solution to places being underwater due to climate destruction is not fixing the climate, it's not returning to Monkey but transforming to Aquaman.
