Real estate prices in most of the major cities in the US are skyrocketing.
One article this week noted that 63% of all San Francisco residential properties – townhouses and condos included – are now worth more than $1 million.
So those of us who aren’t millionaires may soon need to move somewhere else.
It got me thinking. Who owns the moon? How will people lay claim to real estate in outer space? And should we start an LGBT country/colony on an asteroid?
I believe that there is at this point a UN resolution or treaty that does not allow any COUNTRY to claim any solar system land as territory. A similar treaty/agreement applies to land in the Antarctic I have read. Of course that will be so much wastepaper if we ever get a world government as noted in Robert Heinlein’s novel “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress”. Whether such a rule could be enforced against a company or non government organization I am not sure. Of course there are no known natives available to exploit and sell opium or equivalent to for a latter day “East India Company”.
If space travel becomes economic enough then I find it hard to imagine such agreements holding up against the discovery of rich mineral and chemical deposits though.