I agree, but purchasers must be willing to pay more (no matter the cause), and this money has to come from somewhere. Expensive housing is a luxury, irrespective of the reason for its cost.
The money comes from the future. It's conjured up by banks based on future earning potential.
I'm conflicted a bit, but I suppose I agree with you that it's a luxury, if we agree that "not having to commute for 2 hours each way" constitutes luxury.
I'd even invert that bit about coming from the future. Due to the aging demographic shift and the otherwise impossibility of saving on a generational and national scale, there's a huge demand to encumber future earning potential for goods and services today. This is fundamentally why interest rates are so low - our aging population demands to be owed goods and services when they've retired, and the only way to provide that is to convince people to provide it in the future (ie, take on debt).
It's not just our aging population. It's also a side effect of running large trade deficits with developing nations. China's entrepreneurs generate huge profits, and they want to invest them somewhere safe. In terms of default risk, investments in the USA are about as safe as your mattress, and pay about the same interest ...
Or, of you prefer ( as I do ) government debt is a hedge against future GDP growth.
The population may be aging but people are working longer. And in an economy with feeble monetary velocity, entitlements to old folks has pretty high relative velocity.
Low interest rates are less about entitlements than they are about attempting to restart consumption. The problem is that low interest rates encourage dinking around with M&A activity rather than investing in productive enterprise that might employ people. This leads to high private sector debt levels, which further suppresses wages. The "winners" are just sitting on mounds of cash and having trouble finding outlets for it.
I have been working remotely for 10 years now. And not setting foot in a office is my first requirement when vetting potential employers. It is doable.
You will be amazed at what dedicated team of people could do in a year using only skype, whatsapp and basic competence.
