If you are a Democrat, this map represents perhaps the most staggering political failure of our lifetime. People's desire to live in Blue States is reflected in housing prices so why won't the people in charge just allow more homes to be built so we can accommodate that demand?
I live in a tiny super-blue bubble in a blue county next to blue superpowerhouse Philadelphia. When multi-family housing is proposed, my supposedly progressive neighbors come out of the woodwork to oppose it because it will affect "our way of life". They disgust me.
Yup. 'Not in *my* backyard!' They seem to forget that somewhere in the past, the homes they're living in now didn't exist. Just acres of vacant land. If everybody at that time said 'not in my backyard', the land would still be vacant.
I live in Utah because we couldn’t afford to live in California during the economic uncertainty of Covid.
That is the reason. It’s too expensive.
And it’s too expensive because 90% of housing in the LA area is detached single-family sprawl.
I agree…CA is doing a piss poor job of making housing affordable. I am not sure only high density housing is the solution…we need a mix so older and disabled people can have a one story house and young families a condo or townhouse.
Vancouver did a complete rezoning of the Cambie Street Corridor about 15 years ago — allowing the replacing of hundreds of SFH with high-density condos.
Guess what happened to those land values?
BTW, it’s still crazy expensive. Here’s one of those newer condos. Million bucks for 1,000 sq ft.
Not surprising. From the developer's perspective, a higher unit yield would make a land parcel more desirable because they could spread their expenses (land acquisition + improvements + "soft" costs) over more units. Wonder what the absorption rate (#units sold) is per year.
If you live in the NE you don't want more people, because it means more cars on the roads which are too stuffed with cars already. We are not paying for more interstate highways. Land is too valuable to turn our little states into parking lots.
contd..Higher development cost b/c of 'sparse' infrastructure, lower density zoning, non-aggressive land planning by local govt ('what are our short, middle and long-term planning goals'), shortage of developable land, etc.
Several things can make housing expensive. I don't know your area, but often local governments choose not to invest in infrastructure, like road networks and public utilities, and/or prefer land-use ordinances that favor large lot sizes, thus fewer units of housing.
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That is the reason. It’s too expensive.
And it’s too expensive because 90% of housing in the LA area is detached single-family sprawl.
Guess what happened to those land values?
BTW, it’s still crazy expensive. Here’s one of those newer condos. Million bucks for 1,000 sq ft.
No one be wants to live in small town Ontario, but because housing stock has been well behind population growth, it's stupid expensive