Walk on a money for the rest of us. This is a personal finance show on money, how it works,

how to invest in how to live without worrying about it. I'm your host, David Stein.

Today is episode 435. It's titled, Is it Better to Rent or Buy a House?

The last few weeks LaPrile and I have been traveling. We came from Tucson to Idaho and then we've

taken a trip over to the Oregon coast. I usually take an early morning walk wherever I am.

So I've taken early morning walks in Sedona, Santa Fe,

Afton Wyoming, Boise, Idaho, and then a number of towns in Oregon, including Bend,

Corvallis, Medford, and Klamath Falls. That's just in the last month. Generally, I just am

admiring the houses, admiring the neighborhoods, the nature. And for the most part,

because I'm walking so early, there's not a whole lot of people outside walking. Sometimes,

there'll be some runners or individuals walking their dog, but mostly it's me and individuals

experiencing homelessness that tend to be out walking very early. Now, there are multiple reasons

for homelessness and that isn't the topic of today's episode. But one of the primary drivers

is the huge jump in housing cost and rent, particularly in large cities. There was a

article by three analysts, John Myers, Ben Southward, and Sam Bowman, and their thesis was

housing cost are the root of many societal problems. And they give evidence of how a lack of housing

is driving up prices over the past 40 years. They pull data that shows that average New York City

house rose 706 percent since 1980 compared to 376 percent for US consumer prices. So double

the rate of inflation. San Francisco has seen their houses increase 932 percent since 1980.

In London, home prices are up over 21 hundred percent in the last 40 years. 1450 percent

increase in Sydney, Australia, and in Ireland. Over that same period, we've seen home prices there

increase 800 percent. Now, the rents have also jumped significantly over that same period.

...