FT: The US housing crisis is pushing Generation Z toward cryptocurrencies and "economic nihilism".

According to Mars Finance, on December 7th, the Financial Times published an article stating that the continuously deteriorating housing affordability in the United States is profoundly changing the financial and consumption behavior of Generation Z, even driving some young people to speculate in cryptocurrencies and generating feelings of "economic nihilism." The imbalance between housing prices and income has become a core force influencing the economic behavior of young people. Faced with the unattainable goal of buying a home, some young people choose to "lie low," reduce savings, and invest more frequently in high-risk assets such as cryptocurrencies. Surveys show that young people who believe buying a home is unrealistic are more likely to exhibit three behaviors: reduced savings, decreased work motivation, and increased speculative investments. Conversely, young people who still believe they will be able to buy a home in the future are more proactive in saving and planning, because their belief in their goal changes their incentive mechanism. The article emphasizes that as the opportunity cost of buying a home soars, more and more young people are investing their time and money in areas with higher immediate returns, such as the speculative market. To reverse this trend, policies need to directly improve housing supply and prices, such as easing building restrictions to increase affordable housing construction and optimizing land use regulations. The FT believes that improving young people's financial literacy is also crucial, including skills such as budget management, investment fundamentals, risk assessment, and long-term savings planning, which will determine whether they can achieve their homeownership goals in the future.