4x higher tax, not 4x total cost. First housing prices would crash, so rental prices would also drop. And they wouldn't go up 1:1 with tax increases. They would go up by some percentage which is fine. It should be a little more expensive month-to-month to rent vs. own. Renting should still be available, but a lower proportion of housing should be rentals.
“It should be more expensive month to month to rent vs own”
It already is. There are many tax incentives geared towards making owning cheaper. If owning was t already subsidized do you really think anyone would be handing out 4% 30-yr fixed rate mortgages like candy? Removing these would also make housing prices crash, which would lower both purchase cost AND rent, yet I don’t see many people pushing that idea forward (because it also makes it almost impossible for most people to buy)
The “I think people should own property, so I’m okay making it more expensive for people who don’t” is bullshit.
> a lower portion of housing should be rentals
Without numbers (the baseline you’re considering as true, and the number that is “acceptable”) this is just trying to impose a specific viewpoint without any data to back it up.
In Canada we don’t have 30 year fixed mortgages, the longest I have heard of anyone getting is 7 years and that’s me. Despite not having cost certainty in the long term we have the same property market issues as every other desirable place to live.
Those mortgages are still subsidized though. A 5-yr term before it adjusts, with upward protections on rate increases is still not what a "free market" would provide. These are government sponsored (in some way) programs to increse demand for homeownership without a corresponding investment in increasing supply.
Housing being used as a bet on appreciation, which fuels buying, which causes appreciation is best solved by building more housing. The way to make housing cheaper (or not be a speculation vehicle) is to build more housing. Full stop.
The loans are fairly close to an ARM in the US, and they're amortized on (typically) 25yr. They also tend to have prepayment penalties, which the US does not have for residential mortgages anymore.
I was commenting on monthly cost. Upfront cost for owning is much higher. Compare a mortgage down payment to a rental deposit.
How much more expensive proportionally matters; it should be up for discussion democratically.
To own property is to accept responsibility for the land, architecture, and legal liability. If you abdicate that responsibility to another party you should pay for a service; and the bar should be high for the standards of that service.
