charts: How Families Spend in countries

[Field Marshall Bradley]

question: why is housing so overwhelmingly expensive in america, but not in other parts of the world?

Capitalism\Greed basically. Why do you think America makes every purchase an emotional one. For example, your manhood is tied to owning a home, regardless if its in your best financial interest or not.

As a marketing firm, if I can define your manhood by what you purchase, I will have generational buyers

 

[Mr. Somebody]

The average "middle class" Chinese family has 50k(U.S. equivalent) in savings.

This is true

 

[Yuzo Lightheart]

hence land lords are essentially keeping prices artificially high? is this then arguably a large component of the weak american economy?

 

[Mané Swagincha]

probably pointless consumer lifestyles... they're expecting continual income growth so they're just on for the ride

edit: i looked up the original report and it says this:

While there are people wasting money in bad property investments, in the major cities in the southeast region of Brazil, like Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio, property inflation has risen enormously, thus you can profit 200-400% by buying property now, mostly due to the expansion of cities.

Its definitely strange how consumerism has increased so much in Brazil, all people from all classes are buying. Paying in installments with no intrest has made aquiring easier. Its a magic trick in itself and the mass public feed into it, you can buy a LED TV for 1500 and pay it off in up to 12 installments without intrest. However the price of that same product in the states is 500 dollars. So people are spending much more in Brazil, goverment tax and import rates are the highest in the world.


Brazil's Ridiculous $80,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee - Forbes

Brazil's Ridiculous $80,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee


The 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee is viewed on the floor of the New York International Auto Show. Brazilians love this car so much they are willing to pay over 80 grand for it. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
One might think that paying $80,000 for a Jeep Grand Cherokee means it comes equipped with wings and gold plated rims. But in Brazil, it comes standard.
The 2013 Jeep Grande Cherokee cost Brazilians a stellar R$179,000, or roughly $89,500. Import duties and other taxes make it so that the Brazilian buying a muscular Jeep Cherokee could have bought three of them if they were living in Miami like their friends. In the U.S., the 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee will run you about $28,000. That’s nearly half the median American income, but $89,500 is light years away from median Brazilian incomes.

Why does iPhone 4S cost $2K in Brazil, and what does Apple plan to do about it? | 9to5Mac

Why does iPhone 4S cost $2K in Brazil, and what does Apple plan to do about it?


Apple’s iPhone 4S hit Chile and Brazil this evening, and boy is it overpriced. The company’s online store has the R$ 2,599 price tag attached to the 16 GB SIM-free version. The 32 GB/64GB versions of the popular smartphone sell for R$ 2,999/R$ 3,399. The exchange rate of Brazilian dollar is approximately R$ 1.71 to USD 1.00… so you get the picture.

Just to give you a little feel, the unlocked 64 GB iPhone 4S in Brazil sells for three times its $849 United States asking price, or a whopping $2,000. This slideshow cleverly depicts what this amount of money can buy folks in Brazil. Turns out you can get a decent fridge, a big screen Sony Bravia TV or even an entry-level Ford car for the price of an unlocked 64 GB iPhone 4S.

So, why those exorbitant price points?


The handsets are most likely made in China and imported into Brazil, and the country applies very high taxes to imported electronics (the full breakdown illustrated below); thus, the unavoidable price hikes.

Corruption.