Name: 買房真的不可能？一篇讓你心碎的短篇故事！ (A Short Story About Why You Cannot Buy A House)
Uploaded: 2026-01-16T04:45:59.000Z
Duration: 12 min 7 s
Description: 【看影片學英語】數萬部 YouTube 影片，搭配英漢字典即點即查，輕鬆掌握單字發音與用法，長久累積看電影不必再看字幕。

For most of the 20th century, a typical house cost about three times a typical household's income.

在二十世紀大部分的時間裡，一棟典型的房子大約是典型家庭收入的三倍。

People could buy a place with three years of pay and that used to be normal, but

人們可以用三年的薪水買一間房子，這以前很正常，但

A global study looked at 95 major cities and found that not a single one is considered affordable anymore.

一項全球研究調查了 95 個主要城市，發現沒有一個城市還被認為是負擔得起的。

Even the so called normal cities have slipped out of reach.

即使是所謂的正常城市，也已經遙不可及。

Across these centres, the average home now costs more than five times what a typical household earns.

在這些中心城市，平均房價現在是典型家庭收入的五倍以上。

And in places like Hong Kong, Sydney and Vancouver, that that number isn't five, it's nine, 10, even 14 times income.

而在香港、雪梨和溫哥華等地，這個數字不是五倍，而是九倍、十倍，甚至十四倍的收入。

In Beijing and Shanghai, price to income ratios routinely exceed 20 or even 30 times, showing just how far the gap can stretch in the world's most pressured markets.

在北京和上海，房價收入比經常超過 20 倍甚至 30 倍，這顯示了在全球壓力最大的市場中，差距可以擴大到多大。

So yes, it's official, the dream of owning a home is dying.

所以，是的，這是官方說法，擁有房子的夢想正在消逝。

不只是一個國家，而是所有國家。

And when that dream disappears, a lot of other things start disappearing with it.

而當這個夢想消失時，許多其他事情也會跟著消失。

As homes turn into investment opportunities instead of places to live, people put off having kids because they can't afford the space.

當房子變成投資機會而不是居住的地方，人們會因為付不起空間而延後生小孩。

They turn down better jobs because moving costs too much.

他們會拒絕更好的工作，因為搬家費用太高。

And younger generations stop saving altogether because what's the point of saving for something that you'll never be able to afford anyway?

年輕一代會完全停止儲蓄，因為儲蓄的目標是他們永遠買不起的東西，那還有什麼意義呢？

The result of this shift is a strange economy where the people who build our cities, teach our kids and keep everything running can't afford to live in the very places they keep alive.

這種轉變的結果是，一個奇怪的經濟體系出現了，那些建造城市、教育孩子、維持一切運轉的人，卻付不起錢住在他們所維持的城市裡。

那麼，我們是怎麼陷入這個困境的呢？

If people can't afford to populate these cities, can prices really get any worse?

如果人們買不起這些城市裡的房子，房價真的會變得更糟嗎？

And finally, what would it actually take to fix it?

最後，我們要怎麼做才能真正解決這個問題？

Have you ever started writing an email to a client or colleague and just not known where to begin?

你有沒有試過寫一封給客戶或同事的電子郵件，卻不知道從何開始？

Between scripting, emailing and going back and forth with collaborators, writing is all I do and getting started can be the most challenging part.

寫腳本、寫郵件、跟同事來回溝通，我每天都在寫作，而最難的就是開始。

It's an AI writing partner that helps professionals with all their writing needs from start to finish, providing personalised suggestions that sound sound like you.

它是一個 AI 寫作夥伴，能從頭到尾協助專業人士處理所有寫作需求，並提供聽起來像你自己的個人化建議。

I've been using their AI chat to help me get past my writer's block and straight into writing.

我一直在用他們的 AI chat 來幫助我克服寫作障礙，直接進入寫作狀態。

It also has a humanizer tool that helps your writing sound more natural by adding warmth and making your words more natural.

它還有一個 humanizer 工具，能透過增加溫暖感並讓你的文字更自然，讓你的寫作聽起來更自然。

But on top of that, it can examine your writing and provide topic specific feedback with its expert review feature which uses feedback inspired by experts in the field to help elevate your writing.

但除此之外，它還能透過其專家評論功能檢查你的寫作，並提供特定主題的回饋，這個功能使用了來自該領域專家的回饋，來幫助提升你的寫作。

Another cool thing is how you can download Grammarly on your phone and send those last minute emails to your team on the go.

另一件很酷的事是，你可以在手機上下載 Grammarly，隨時隨地傳送最後一封郵件給你的團隊。

If you want to improve your writing and ideation, whether it's for work side projects or just for clearer communication, sign up and upgrade to Grammarly Pro to level up your productivity.

如果你想提升寫作和構思能力，無論是為了工作、個人專案，還是隻是為了更清晰的溝通，都可以註冊並升級到 Grammarly Pro，來提升你的生產力。

你可以使用我的連結享有 8 折優惠。

Thanks again to Grammarly for sponsoring this video.

再次感謝 Grammarly 贊助這個影片。

Every year, Chapman University releases the Demographia International Housing Affordability Report, one of the most detailed looks at living costs anywhere.

每年，查普曼大學都會發布《Demographia 國際住房負擔能力報告》，這是全球最詳盡的居住成本分析之一。

It compares house prices to household incomes across 95 cities like Sydney, Toronto, London and San Francisco, and

它比較了雪梨、多倫多、倫敦和舊金山等 95 個城市的房價與家庭收入，

it shows where the dream of home ownership still exists and where it's completely gone.

並顯示了擁有房屋的夢想仍然存在的地方，以及完全消失的地方。

Researchers use something called the median multiple, the price of a typical home divided by a typical household's yearly income.

研究人員使用一種叫做「中位數倍數」的方法，也就是典型房屋的價格除以典型家庭的年收入。

In a healthy market, that number sits around three.

在健康的市場中，這個數字大約是 3。

But this year, something unprecedented happened.

但今年，發生了一件前所未有的事。

For the first time in the report's 21 year history, not a single market was considered affordable.

在這份報告 21 年的歷史中，首次沒有一個市場被認為是負擔得起的。

While conditions vary, Most of the 95 cities now fall into the seriously or severely unaffordable categories, meaning a typical home costs more than four to five times what a typical household earns.

雖然情況各異，但現在 95 個城市中的大多數都屬於嚴重或極度難以負擔的類別，這意味著典型房屋的成本是典型家庭收入的四到五倍以上。

And in 12 of them things have gotten so bad they added a new label impossibly unaffordable, where the median home costs more than nine times the median income.

其中有 12 個城市的情況糟到新增了一個標籤「極度難以負擔」，典型房屋的價格是中位數收入的九倍以上。

At the top of this list is Hong Kong at 14.4 times income, and

名單的頂端是香港，收入的 14.4 倍，

Then come San Jose, Vancouver and Los Angeles.

接著是聖荷西、溫哥華和洛杉磯。

And once you start looking beyond those cities, you realise the same pattern repeats across entire countries.

當你開始關注這些城市之外的地方，就會發現同樣的模式在整個國家不斷重現。

Homes in Australia's average city are now near 10 times median income.

澳洲一般城市的房價現在接近中位數收入的 10 倍。

Even smaller markets like Perth or Brisbane are now less affordable than New York.

即使是伯斯或布里斯本這樣的小型市場，現在的負擔能力也比紐約差。

In Canada, affordability has been collapsing since the mid 2000s.

在加拿大，自 2000 年代中期以來，房價的可負擔性一直在崩潰。

Vancouver has ranked amongst the fourth least affordable cities on Earth for 18 years straight, and

溫哥華連續 18 年位居全球第四大最難負擔的城市，

Greater London homes now sit at nine times median income, while the UK average has crept to 5.6, which is roughly double what it was in the 1990s.

大倫敦地區的房價現在是中位數收入的 9 倍，而英國的平均值已悄悄爬升到 5.6 倍，大約是 1990 年代的兩倍。

Even the United States, well known for its sprawling suburbs and cheaper housing, has climbed from 3.9 before the pandemic to 4.8 today.

即使是美國，這個以廣闊郊區和較便宜住房聞名的地方，在疫情前是 3.9 倍，現在則攀升到 4.8 倍。

For context, Pittsburgh, the most affordable city on the list, sits at 3.2.

說到負擔能力，清單上最實惠的匹茲堡是 3.2。

Just 30 years ago, nearly all of these cities were affordable.

就在 30 年前，幾乎所有這些城市都買得起房子。

Home prices rose roughly in line with incomes, but today they've completely split apart.

房價與收入大致同步上漲，但如今它們已經完全脫節了。

The report's authors called this an existential threat to middle income households, and

這份報告的作者稱此為中產家庭的生存威脅，

you don't need to be a researcher to see why.

你不需要是研究人員就能明白為什麼。

When home prices rise faster than wages, the effects spread far beyond the housing market, families delay having kids.

當房價漲得比薪水快時，其影響遠超房地產市場，家庭會延後生小孩。

Workers turn down better jobs because they can't afford to move.

勞工會因為無法負擔搬家而拒絕更好的工作。

Younger generations lose access to what used to be the cornerstone of middle class life, owning a home.

年輕一代失去了過去中產階級生活的基石——擁有房屋的機會。

Which raises the bigger question, if this wasn't a problem 30 years ago, what changed?

這就引發了一個更大的問題，如果30年前這不是個問題，那是什麼改變了？

30年前，房子是個遮風避雨的地方。

Today, it's part of a global investment strategy.

現在，它變成全球投資策略的一部分。

Over the last few decades, almost everything that counts as an asset has shot up in price.

過去幾十年來，幾乎所有被視為資產的東西價格都飆漲了。

Not just homes, but land, stocks and even art.

不只是房子，還有土地、股票，甚至是藝術品。

Because rich people, corporations and big funds have more cash than ever and they all want a safe place to park it.

因為有錢人、企業和大型基金擁有的現金比以往任何時候都多，而且他們都想找個安全的地方停泊。

When the wealthy get more money, they don't buy more groceries, they buy assets.

當有錢人賺到更多錢時，他們不會去買更多雜貨，而是去買資產。

Housing got hit the hardest because it's both essential and one of the easiest assets to own, rent out or borrow against.

房地產受到的衝擊最嚴重，因為它既是必需品，又是最容易擁有、出租或抵押的資產之一。

This artificially boosted demand, while at the same time we were arbitrarily limiting supply.

這人為地推高了需求，同時我們又任意地限制了供應。

It began with good intentions, protecting greenspace, controlling sprawl, preserving neighbourhood character.

一開始是出於好意，像是保護綠地、控制市區擴張、維持社區特色。

But over time, those good intentions turned into zoning limits, height caps, parking minimums, endless approvals, all of which slowed construction and drove up the cost of land that could be developed.

但隨著時間推移，這些好意演變成了分區限制、高度限制、停車位最低要求、無止盡的審批，所有這些都減緩了建築速度，並推高了可開發土地的成本。

As those restrictions tightened, housing stopped behaving like a normal market.

隨著這些限制收緊，房地產不再像一般市場一樣運作。

Prices no longer reflected the cost of bricks and labour, they reflected policy made scarcity.

價格不再反映磚塊和勞工的成本，而是反映了政策造成的稀缺性。

As interest rates fell and global cash supplies surged, more capital chased the same limited number of homes.

隨著利率下降和全球現金供應激增，更多的資金追逐著同樣有限的房屋數量。

Investors, funds and even pension systems realized that real estate offered steady returns and safety from inflation.

投資者、基金甚至終身俸系統都意識到，房地產能提供穩定的回報並抵禦通膨。

If you could borrow at 3% and your property rose 7% a year, you didn't need to live in it, you just needed to own it.

如果你能以 3% 的利率借款，而你的房產每年增值 7%，你不需要住在裡面，只需要擁有它。

This shift turned homes into financial products.

這種轉變讓房屋變成了金融商品。

Institutional buyers started purchasing single family homes in bulk.

機構買家開始大量收購獨棟房屋。

Foreign investors treated a property as a storehouse of wealth.

外國投資者將房地產視為財富的儲藏室。

And even regular households began to see real estate as something that always went up.

甚至一般家庭也開始認為房地產是隻會漲價的東西。

That wave of money flowed straight into the cities, already at the top of Demographia's list, where limited supply sent prices through the roof.

那股資金潮直接湧入城市，這些城市早已位居 Demographia 的名單頂端，有限的供應讓房價飆升。

In markets like these, the more valuable housing became, the more capital it attracted, creating a feedback loop between scarcity and speculation.

在這樣的市場裡，房屋越有價值，吸引的資金就越多，形成了稀缺性和投機之間的良性循環。

For most of the 20th century, income and house prices moved together.

在 20 世紀的大部分時間裡，收入和房價是同步變動的。

As workers became more productive, they earned more, and as cities grew, they added more homes.

隨著勞工生產力提高，他們賺得更多，城市也隨之擴張，增加了更多房屋。

But in the 1990s, those trajectories diverged.

但到了 1990 年代，這兩條軌跡開始分道揚鑣。

Trade, automation and offshoring put a lid on middle income wage growth, even as living costs rose.

貿易、自動化和外包限制了中等收入的薪資增長，同時生活成本卻不斷上升。

In the US, median real wages have risen only around 10% in the last 20 years.

在美國，過去 20 年的實質中位數薪資僅上漲了約 10%。

While home prices have doubled, tripled or even quadrupled in the same period a few decades ago.

幾十年前，房價翻倍、三倍甚至四倍是很常見的，但現在情況不同了。

單份收入就能買下一間家庭房屋。

And if a second owner joined the workforce, that meant a bigger house or a better neighbourhood.

如果第二位家庭成員也加入職場，就能買更大的房子或搬到更好的社區。

But once everyone had two incomes, sellers knew it and prices climbed to keep pace.

但一旦家家戶戶都有雙薪，賣家們也知道這點，房價就跟著上漲。

Instead of making homes more affordable, dual incomes just made the same homes cost twice as much.

雙薪並沒有讓房屋更實惠，反而讓同樣的房屋價格翻倍。

And as prices rose faster than pay, something else happened.

隨著房價漲幅超過薪資，另一件事也發生了。