The 400 Year Cycle of Real Estate

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#housingmarket #History #realestate

Written By: Sam

Video Created By: Gabriela Gutierrez

Footage Courtesy of: Getty Images

Music Provided By: Epidemic Sound

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Real estate is the best way to make money. And the quickest way to lose money.

At least, that’s what they say.
In reality, the property industry has its ups and downs just like any other market but what
makes it stand out from the crowd is its longevity.
But it wasn’t always the case that you could buy and sell land.
Even before you could slap a price tag on it, the earth under your feet had political sway and
power which could affect the course of history.
So how did real estate go from being owned by elites to being owned by the public...and
elites?

For most of human history, the ground was just dirt and mud. Then someone got the idea to
build a straw hut and - hey presto – real estate was invented.
Or at least, our concept of real estate. The idea of private property took a while to form.
It took so long that humans learned to domestic dogs 800 or so years before permanent
structures were erected. Even before we’d conceptualised how to buy a home, we wanted a
pet to live with. [1]
We see someone building a straw hut. But then someone runs up, yanks a tree branch out

and throws it for a dog to fetch. The straw hut collapses.

But once we figured out how to stop stuff falling over, we were set on figuring out how to
integrate buildings into society.
The oldest known established city was Jericho, in 9000 BC. It’s fair to say any concept of
property laws would be part of their customs or laws, though archaeologists are confident
from their findings that early city states often had communal aspects to land resource
management. [2]
This suggests that humans first focus was on building homes, municipal areas, infrastructure
and, of course, palaces.
That’s because the king or queen or pharaoh or sultan or whoever was in charge owned
everything.
For most of human history, property rights have been firmly in the hands of the elite.
Take Ancient Greece.
Their concept of property rights was not universal.
Only free male adults could own or inherit land, which means women and slaves were out of
the game. They were also closely tied to citizenship or social status so if you think you’ll get
on the property ladder, spare a thought for the red tape Aristotle had to cut through.
But over in Rome, things were different.
There, property law was a significant part of the Roman legal system.
For their time, it was immensely sophisticated, and has even provided the backbone for a lot
of Western law. One monumental idea was to differentiate types of property. [3]
“Dominium” meant you owned the property and “possession” meant you owned a bit of it but
could own all of it one day if certain conditions were met.
So, in essence, these were the ancient world’s equivalent of a mortgage!
In Egypt, however, land ownership was stricter.
Only the Pharaoh or upper echelons of society could get a nice little place out by the Sphinx.
Things weren’t as comfortable for the masses. Any farmer toiling in a field they didn’t own,
or wasn’t owned by their boss, had to pay a fee for the luxury to work.
Dang. Even before property rights were universal, there were landlords and rent!
It would take some time before the value of land changed, but when it did the world was
never the same again.
It’s time to learn How History Works as we chronicle the history of real estate.

Sources:

conqueror
heritage/transformingsociety/towncountry/landscape/overview/enclosingland/
world-79715124/
to-be-for-putins-oligarchs
payments-on-creator-marketplace

[samuelpo]

good video but you forgot to talk about The 400 Year Cycle of Real Estate

[PhillKaggitz]

“Spending all your time and energy making money for someone else only to die and have nothing” hits hard man

[nuke___]

Building up is more efficient only to a certain height. Once you pass about 5-12ish floors, the cost per floor starts growing exponentially. It's why most urban apartment buildings are around this height. The only reason to go above that is that the location is so valuable that it justifies the large price tag.

[MyCommentsGetGhosted]

I get immensely frustrated when videos that discuss or imply the topic of housing costs don't mention how restrictive zoning laws affect the hosing market and creates an increased barrier to entry in owning property.

[pyeitme]

"It's free real estate" meme only useful when ya some rich & powerful elite😅

[Snooder]

oof. Gotta say, not a huge fan of this one. The medieval history analysis is very inaccurate. I get that it was supposed to be a broad spectrum generalization to discuss a broad trend about common ownership of land, but people who don't actually know how complex and varied landholding and legal obligations in the middle ages were could be badly misled.

[Eliastion]

From what I've heard about the Louisiana deal, it was actually a good idea for France anyway. They lacked the power to keep it - it pretty much belonged to France on paper only. Selling it to someone who COULD enforce the newly bought claim to the land had basically zero cost for France - had they tried to keep the land, they would've lost it anyway.

[davidpeltier]

The idea that serfs never traveled is false. Who do you think went on pilgrimage and depending on the which period of the middle ages, they could reasonably be expected to travel as far as to other "countries" for leisure.

[Krill_all_health_insuranceCEOs]

In my opinion enclosure was an incredibly destructive process that harmed the masses irreparably. I believe modern forms of enclosure likewise carry on this destructive tradition. I'm not saying there can be no private land, it's not black-or-white or either/or, I'm just saying that excessive enclosure harms the general public in various ways from demonizing and dehumanizing the homeless to causing the loss of third and fourth places in our lives and the loss of community and affordable spaces.

[CameronFussner]

I’m a grand dad, I moved to the Bay Area a few years ago and I’m thinking of purchasing a single family home, but with real estate prices currently through the roof, is it still a good idea to buy a home or should I invest in stocks for now and just wait for a housing market correction? I heard Nvidia and AMD are strong buys.

[Rizhiy]

16:05 It already exists, ipv4 address space is pretty much fully allocated. Public addresses currently go for ~$40/IP

[ShadowJak]

The metaverse is a bad idea and bordering on being a scam. It is a boring, bad videogame no one wants to use. It will never be worth anything and because it is software, it is infinitely copyable. If it gets popular, other companies will make their own.

[Quixote]

This is a profoundly linear interpretation of history, sir.

[Roccofan]

15:38 I just went into my back yard and tried to find the cord to unplug it, It wasn’t there. Is there youtube video or subreddit that could explain how I can turn off my back yard? 😢😢😂😂😂

[LukeVilent]

OMG so much is wrong, or, at very least, Anglo-centric here!

Well, the feudal system in Europe was not *that* organized as the history books teach. In Germany, for instance, the very least feudal obligations were liquidated only in XXth century. They also were much more organic, with all sort of mutuality and bypassing - like, for instance, a sizeable stratum of Riechsritter (Imperial Knights), who belong to the lower aristocracy, but answered directly to the king - the infamous Götz von Berlichingen was of them.

Also, in Germany communities could and did contest their right to land as there, contrary to the claim in the video, has been a court for that.

In fact, the 1525 Peasant War in Germany - in which said Berlichingen fought alongside the peasants - has started because the landlords tried to restrict this right to contend - as well as leaving your homestead. Yes, people could leave their homesteads, and even though the cost was high - one third your ownership, it was still possible. And even though German peasants have lost this war, their rights were reestablished and their duties reduced.

Number crunching of land began long before the enclosures. The word "Geometry" literally means "land measuring", and it began in Ancient Mesopotamia at the latest. The documents of land acquisition from Ancient Iraq are nothing short of those pre-modern, as well as procedures asserting legality of the transaction. For instance, in Assyria, the land purchase required hiring a herald to shout on the public place about the purchase, thrice at the locality and thrice at the capital, for anyone who may have a legal objection to the transaction; that's along with all the documents and witnesses who had to accompany it. In Rome, the situation was even more entertaining, but the margin is too thin for me to tell the whole story...

[rightwingsafetysquad]

1:27, the generic term you're looking for is HNIC - Head * In Charge.

[mauihomebuyers]

Thank you so much for slowing it down!!! My only complaint about your channels is that I’ve always had so much trouble following along and understanding everything bc you talk SO fast! lol you provide great insight and I love all of your content, I just wish I could understand it. This video is 10x better bc I’m able to keep up with you. I’d love if you could slow it down even more, but this is a huge improvement so thank you so much. I know YouTube likes shorter videos but personally I prefer the longer videos and I always watch till the end, like and subscribe. Thanks for the great content and huge thank you for slowing it down!!!

[discographetti]

lmfao the metaverse, you’re really taking the piss with this one mate

[XzoahX]

The future isn't in virtual reality. It costs basically nothing to produce a brand new mile of digital land.

What you're buying with a valuable Minecraft server isn't really the land, but the attention of the players.

It's more comparable to the rights to a stage play.

[ReseteaLaSalud]

00:00 🏠 Real estate has a reputation for both profit and loss, but its longevity sets it apart from other markets.
01:51 🏛 Throughout history, property rights were predominantly in the hands of the elite, such as ancient Greece where only free male adults could own land.
04:05 📜 Feudal systems, particularly under William the Conqueror, marked a significant shift towards land ownership hierarchy.
07:13 🌾 The enclosure acts in England led to the transition from communal land ownership to individual rights, catalyzing the emergence of private property.
10:54 📝 Legal frameworks evolved post-enclosure acts to facilitate land ownership, paving the way for a structured real estate market.
11:48 💰 The Louisiana Purchase of 1803, a significant real estate deal, doubled the size of the United States and demonstrated the economic power of land acquisition.
13:09 🏙 Skyscrapers and commercial spaces exemplify the evolution of real estate markets, with speculation driving market fluctuations.
15:28 🌐 The future of real estate may involve digital properties in virtual worlds or even off-world colonization, posing new challenges and opportunities.