• captcha [any]
    ·
    1 year ago

    How is this actually done in communist countries? Is it all housing co-ops?

    • krei [it/its]
      ·
      1 year ago

      I don't know. The more I read about countries like China and Cuba, the more I realize I really have no idea what's going on or how things work over there. And it's not like it is easy to find unbiased information.

      • Wordplay [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        some decent papers in here: https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-cuba-reader-second-edition

    • FrogFractions [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      In China they have rules that aggressively favor owner-occupiers.

      Eg if you want to buy a second property you need to pay 60% cash up front and can only borrow 40%, and for a third or subsequent property you can’t get a mortgage and need to pay cash.

      This means being a speculator in existing housing stock isn’t attractive since it locks up so much capital - and so speculators have instead invested in new builds which is why there has been a bubble in construction, but at least it means for the existing housing stock is largely an owner-occupier market.

      There are also special funds specifically for saving for a house, kind of similar to a 401k, that you can put your money into as a savings account and your employer has to match your contributions.

      • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        also sometimes the Chinese state will just seize real estate if they feel like it. So if you do lock up capital in landlording in China there is a risk they will just take that capital