Why we can’t build family-sized apartments in North America
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Why we can’t build family-sized apartments in North America
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Re: Why we can’t build family-sized apartments in North America
#2> In February, I, along with real estate developer Bobby Fijan, went on the Bloomberg podcast Odd Lots to talk about why it’s so hard to find a family-sized apartment in the United States. I argued that North American zoning and building codes work together to drive up the size of multi-bedroom apartments in particular, putting them financially out of reach for many parents raising children. In other words, even if developers built more two-, three-, and four-bedroom apartments, you probably wouldn’t be able to afford one, because they would have to be so much larger than units with the same number of bedroom in Europe or Asia.
So, as an American living in Portugal, I'm not so sure the grass is greener.
It's true that our apartment would be illegal to build in the US. There's only one point of egress in a fire, and it's the stairway we share with our neighbors. That means there's no need to have a long hall like in America, but I'm not really sure the reason prices have ballooned in America is the extra few square feet spent on a little bit of stairway.
There are other ways European apartments are smaller, of course. Even our three bedroom apartment has no linen closet, no laundry room, no closets at all actually. The bedrooms have what I would call extra-large armoires. Again, our three bedroom place is very much built for a family, but the kitchen has a refrigerator smaller than the one my American best friend uses for beer. It's really RV-sized.
Just everything in Europe is tiny. T i n y. And frankly, it's not that much cheaper over here either.
Maybe the extra hall space you need to have two points of egress in a fire is part of it, but that ain't all of it.
Re: Why we can’t build family-sized apartments in North America
#3> In other words, even if developers built more two-, three-, and four-bedroom apartments
I'm confused. The overwhelming majority of apartments in my state are two and three bedroom ones.
Re: Why we can’t build family-sized apartments in North America
#4TLDR: zoning and building codes require too much excess design and space
Re: Why we can’t build family-sized apartments in North America
#5> In February, I, along with real estate developer Bobby Fijan, went on the Bloomberg podcast Odd Lots to talk about why it’s so hard to find a family-sized apartment in the United States. I argued that North American zoning and building codes work together to drive up the size of multi-bedroom apartments in particular, putting them financially out of reach for many parents raising children. In other words, even if d…
Bobby Floorplans should know that the magic bullet is a land value tax, not single stair.
Re: Why we can’t build family-sized apartments in North America
#6> In February, I, along with real estate developer Bobby Fijan, went on the Bloomberg podcast Odd Lots to talk about why it’s so hard to find a family-sized apartment in the United States. I argued that North American zoning and building codes work together to drive up the size of multi-bedroom apartments in particular, putting them financially out of reach for many parents raising children. In other words, even if d…
Bobby Floorplans should know that the magic bullet is a land value tax, not single stair.
Land value taxes assume real estate values always increase, which they don’t
Re: Why we can’t build family-sized apartments in North America
#7> In other words, even if developers built more two-, three-, and four-bedroom apartments I'm confused. The overwhelming majority of apartments in my state are two and three bedroom ones.
Do you live in a place with serious supply constraints and lots of new construction?
Re: Why we can’t build family-sized apartments in North America
#8I'm not an expert on building codes but a large difference in North America is there is much more space in general when building new so I don't quite think the argument is valid.
Americans simply want a lot more space. If a developer built smaller sized 3 or 4 bedroom apartments they would have trouble selling to the price point they want.
Re: Why we can’t build family-sized apartments in North America
#9> In February, I, along with real estate developer Bobby Fijan, went on the Bloomberg podcast Odd Lots to talk about why it’s so hard to find a family-sized apartment in the United States. I argued that North American zoning and building codes work together to drive up the size of multi-bedroom apartments in particular, putting them financially out of reach for many parents raising children. In other words, even if d…
One thing to keep in mind is that in the US there are often things like setback restrictions and distance separation requirements such, so a small increase in square footage can be the difference between a building fitting on a lot, and not.
You can of course buy more lots to combine but that takes more money, and more time, because you have to wait for a bunch of adjacent lot owners to sell.
Re: Why we can’t build family-sized apartments in North America
#10basically everything I read about the USA housing market seems so weird, especially in SF/Silicon Valley. They makret themselves as being this "tech area" yet they have 100 year old houses with limits of 2 floors.
or big suburbs without anything in them. Where is the uber, airbnb and doordash for housing?