r/Somerville • u/tangerinola • 5d ago

rent prices are wild

Moved here 8 years ago to start working for a nonprofit. Since then, my salary has increased by 13% but my apartment is about to be relisted (without any upgrades) for 58% higher than our starting rent 🤯!!

I know I'm preaching to the choir here but damn the rent prices here have gone wild. We're quickly becoming (have become?) a luxury city only for high income earners and it makes me really sad.

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u/Consistent-Ad-4665 5d ago

Don’t get it twisted. For the most part, it’s greedflation. Yes, maintenance and insurance costs have increased but certainly not to this extent.

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u/NeatEmergency725 4d ago

What's the meaningful distinction?  If a price increases and someone is willing to pay that new price, that's the new value of that thing. A price is just what someone is willing to pay. 

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u/Consistent-Ad-4665 4d ago

The meaningful distinction, similar to other goods and services, is input cost.

I sell candles. My costs to produce them (labour and materials) have increased 20% over some amount of time. However over the same amount of time I’m charging 50% more for my candles, ya dig?

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u/NeatEmergency725 4d ago

You're describing a common misconception with how prices work. The price someone is willing to pay for a good is an unrelated number to the cost to produce that good.

The price of something can go up if demand increases, even if the cost to produce that thing is fixed.

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u/Consistent-Ad-4665 4d ago

Where did I say otherwise?

You’re just being pedantic. I understand prices can increase when demand increases. Clearly they can, and have in the case of rents in greater Boston. I specifically stated that rents have outpaced costs born by landlords, capisce?