The rent is too damn high... honey.

I'd hope rent isn't the only reason someone would remain in an obviously toxic relationship

NO RENT CONTROL NONONONONONO FUCK YOUR GIRLFRIEND FUCK YOUR BOYFRIEND

My wife was on a full ride while we were dating and had a free dorm. I moved in to save money. We shared an apartment with 3 other girls. We slept on a twin bed. Had to sleep sardine style (head to foot) to fit. I wasn’t supposed to be there technically, so she had to sign me in and out every time I came/went. I rode my bike to work in the Loop all winter. I was drinking a lot at the time because I hated my job and realized I couldn’t leave. Those were trying times for the relationship…

Rent comes from two groups: Those that can adjust the prices like they want, and those that need to take as much as they can. In the first group, you find institutional investors, people that have built up a nice RE portfolio over the years, or simply people that are debt free and own a surplus building or two. The last group, consists of people that are swimming in debt, and use the property to pay for mortgage. Lots of young owners need to rent out for 10-15 years, and depend on rent income. Both groups obviously want to maximize their returns, but only one of them are forced to drive up the prices. (Well, you could also throw in a last group: The city / state / whatever. Gotta have homes for those on welfare too)

Add in too many regulations on housing development, and you get the perfect storm. The people with money don't bother building stuff, because it's much cheaper to just flip or hoard old houses. Maybe they'll demolish the building, and build something nice, if it's in a good or very central part, but for the most part it's cheaper to just flip old stuff. New owners are desperate to get a foot inside, so they'll pay whatever is needed, even if that means being in debt 'til you're 60. Then they rent out at market value, and the cycle continues. The poor people that will never afford a property, have to move outside the city. Sometimes far outside, and end up commuting for hours each day.

To fix this situation, I'd say:

1) Get rid of excessive development regulations and zoning laws. I'm fine with safety regulations, and such. But let's face it: We can't all have a perfect view, 12 hours of perfect sunlight, a huge backyard in the middle of the city, or whatnot. You need to build taller buildings, an more densely.

2) Improve infrastructure and transport between cities. If you could commute for 30 mins instead of 2 hours, one way, it wouldn't be so shitty to commute from a transit city.

3) Limit the amount of foreign investors. More specifically, people that drive up prices and let stuff stand empty. Look at what happened in Vancouver the past 10-15 years.

4) Start imposing some regulations on stuff like Airbnb. The original idea was a novel and good one, for people that had some extra space available. But it turned into this monstrosity where people buying up apartments, only to knock down walls and setting up 10-20 bunk beds in the open space. Some places look like Military barracks.

Big cities will always be expensive, because there's so much going on there. You will never, ever, find housing for regular folks in Manhattan, Central London, Hong Kong, etc. Rich people enjoy staying around these places, and you simply can't outbid them as a normal person. What you can do is to make commute faster, and pack more people into a smaller area. Some people enjoy having a big mansion with a football field worth of yard, out in the boonies. Other people like the noise and sounds of a big city, and don't mind living in small apartments. If the Tesla hyperloop turns out to work as planned, it'll be a total game changer.

But to answer your question, yes, the rent is high. Very high. I don't think homeowners (that don't rent out) know how much rent has gone up the past 10 years or so.

I have seen it. I guess its similar to why people stay married even though they hate each other. But yeah, for an average person early in their career bringing in

It's a very good point. I would agree, as unfortunate as it is.

I'm sure that money/budget plays a part in it. I also think people move in together because they like the idea of the relationship more than the relationship.

Hey,

I am yet going through the exact same situation right now so I felt I could just add my 2cents.

I'm not US based i'm actually in one of the most (but not the most) expansive city to live in mainland Europe. It's been aproximately 2 months that I keep sharing the same appartment for financial reasons and I just can't wait until I figure out a way to get the f... outta here.

This has been really complicated since I'm in the middle of internship recruiting and had to deal with the breakup and the logistics at the same time. Fortunately a good friend of mine just gave me a golden opportunity I'm going to take, obviously gonna cost me way more but man ... what a relief.

Having experienced this I would rather commute for an hour and a half + every morning rather than going through this again. But I guess it depends on how difficult the breakup is firsthand.

Anyways, hope everything will turn out okay for your boy

I don't know anyone who has moved in together solely for this reason, but shared rent is definitely a major bonus of being in a relationship.

Do you guys even realize you could save $ by sharing a studio apartment with your bros? Ever heard of bunk beds?