You are aware the supply chain I'm referring to is China, India, SEA, and Latin America right? China is already going dark on supply, India will be next with SEA, and if it spreads any further Latin America will have supply problems as well. We live in a global economy and America hasn't produced anything for itself in years despite mango man claiming he's bringing jobs back. We are completely dependent on cheap foreign labor. It could never touch the US and our economy would tank if our cheap labor is suffering.
Ahhhh... no. Terrible investment. Never buy a condo as an investment. If you want to invest in residential real-estate, you buy single family homes, duplexes, or multi-family. Never ever buy a condo, unless its on the beach, you have the marketing prowess to keep it rented, the HOA "allows" you to rent it, and last but not least... you manage and clean it yourself. The friggin monthly fee's kill your 5%.
While much of that is true, in the bigger picture people moving from one locale to another that are flush with cash, is a small percentage of that local market overall. It works well when looking at high dollar housing... but it means absolutely nothing for starter homes. This is an interesting thread. Buffet's purchase of Clayton Homes back in 2003 has been heralded as, and imo remains, his best investment ever. Through various strategic acquisitions, they have built Clayton into the largest pre-fab and modular home building company in the world. Make no mistake... this is where home-building is going. I don't care if its a starter home or its a million dollar plus. Its more efficient to build sections of homes in a manufacturing facility than it is to build it on site. The levels of final assembly can vary. The house can be thrown up, and an old school stone mason can be brought in to add the facade. You get the idea. Going back to what you said however, yes the demand is there.... but the wages required to buy that starter home aren't. The prices have to come down. An impossible feat when the cost of products going into the home don't drop. The only savings will be in the assembly. Hence Buffet's genius way back when.
5-15% is after all fees. I've created a spreadsheet to keep track of all expenses/income. Most single family homes around here have HOA fees also, though not as high as condos but then you're responsible for all exterior maintenance (roof, siding, sidewalk, mowing, tree trimming, etc..). HOA fees in condos covers all exterior plus insurance for the building and any exterior liabilities. I've owned single family homes and condos as rental properties. I got rid of all single family as I live in southern florida so didn't want the risk of loosing an entire home in a bad hurricane. Condos I own will survive a cat 5 hurricane with possibility of some roof damage, covered by insurance. The community I live in is 80% owned by a billionaire. He's not a dummy so maybe you want to tell him to never invest in condos? Good luck. He owns thousands of condos. Less risk and less maintenance than single family homes by giving up a little ROI. How many rental properties do you own?
Can't speak for the rest of the country but housing prices did decline drastically in Austin during 2000 recession once Dell and the others started laying off. I know of one block where 60-70% of the houses went up for sale during this time period. One model was selling for ~200k new before the recession and after the layoffs that same exact model only being 6-12 months old were only getting 160-170k before realtor commissions were paid. The higher priced homes fared even worse. The difference this time is there are no more 103% no down payment and jacked up appraisals going like in 2004-2008 so people have a lot more skin in the game and less incentive to walk if upside down 40k on a 200k house.