Supply glut aside... Quality of life down... Traffic up... Kind of makes sense rents are down.
Austin’s surge of new housing construction drove down rents
131–140 of 1001 posts
Re: Austin’s surge of new housing construction drove down rents
#132So glad we don't need to re-write the first chapter of almost every economics 101 textbook!
There's loads of other inefficiencies as well. Moving is a huge hurdle. It's difficult to find housing that meets dozens of conditions, and even then you don't respond to supply + demand imagined equilibrium, you pay more or pay less to live near friends or family. It's something you only do a handful of times in your whole life. Trying to use the same analysis as for buying a can of beans is absurd. You might need t…
> It's difficult to find housing that meets dozens of conditions
Correct. That's why when there's more housing you're more likely to find what you need.
Re: Austin’s surge of new housing construction drove down rents
#133Supply glut aside... Quality of life down... Traffic up... Kind of makes sense rents are down. Density needs transit investment too
Re: Austin’s surge of new housing construction drove down rents
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
Menlo Park has a higher population density than Austin... The majority of it is not Bel Air...
> The majority of it is not Bel Air... Menlo Park was never a "middle class" town. The 101 was always the (literal) redline. The median household income is $210K [0] and it's the same demographic, unlike historically lower middle class but now upper middle class San Mateo [1]. A Menlo Park home address that is on the correct side of the 101 opens the same doors in the Bay that a Bel Air address does in Los Angeles or…
Which side is the rich side?
Re: Austin’s surge of new housing construction drove down rents
#135Dumb question, many cities suffer from extremely high property (i.e. land) prices. I understand the NIMBY barrier. But I don't understand why it isn't more common to simply.. start a new city. Especially in countries like Australia where property prices are sky high and alternative places for setting up a new city are abundant. Maybe internet connectivity was previously a barrier, but now.. starlink. I put this quest…
Why would you think that the same thing preventing density and new development in cities won’t stop your new city from growing before any building taller than 2 stories is built?
Re: Austin’s surge of new housing construction drove down rents
#136So glad we don't need to re-write the first chapter of almost every economics 101 textbook!
There's loads of other inefficiencies as well. Moving is a huge hurdle. It's difficult to find housing that meets dozens of conditions, and even then you don't respond to supply + demand imagined equilibrium, you pay more or pay less to live near friends or family. It's something you only do a handful of times in your whole life. Trying to use the same analysis as for buying a can of beans is absurd. You might need t…
“People like to drink certain kinds of beer” and “some people don’t drink beer often” are not arguments against supply and demand driving beer prices.
Re: Austin’s surge of new housing construction drove down rents
#137It's almost as though the well-known and proven method of building more housing works!
Similarly, the tested and proven solution to homelessness is providing housing up front. Don't have any requirements (employment, sobriety, etc) blocking housing. Those things are easier to achieve with a roof over your head.
Re: Austin’s surge of new housing construction drove down rents
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
People are quick to point out that induced demand exists - especially people that aren't fond of change. Very broadly speaking, people mis-estimate effect sizes in economics by orders of magnitude. Induced demand is just their foothold to claim an effect exists, before they go about claiming the effect size they want to see.
I love induced demand. I'm going to use it to get rich - buy up some abandoned town somewhere, and then pay to run a 100 lane superhighway to it; induced demand means the town will fill up instantly and be hugely valuable!
Good analogy. I've always considered induced demand a bit of a fantasy.
New businesses the sprout up that market themselves certainly induce a bit of demand, but more lanes and stoplights doesn't exactly motivate people to want to go somewhere.
Re: Austin’s surge of new housing construction drove down rents
#139So glad we don't need to re-write the first chapter of almost every economics 101 textbook!
There's loads of other inefficiencies as well. Moving is a huge hurdle. It's difficult to find housing that meets dozens of conditions, and even then you don't respond to supply + demand imagined equilibrium, you pay more or pay less to live near friends or family. It's something you only do a handful of times in your whole life. Trying to use the same analysis as for buying a can of beans is absurd. You might need t…
False. Even if you don't move, people move all the time and that moves the needle for everyone.
Re: Austin’s surge of new housing construction drove down rents
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The majority of it is not Bel Air... Menlo Park was never a "middle class" town. The 101 was always the (literal) redline. The median household income is $210K [0] and it's the same demographic, unlike historically lower middle class but now upper middle class San Mateo [1]. A Menlo Park home address that is on the correct side of the 101 opens the same doors in the Bay that a Bel Air address does in Los Angeles or…
Which side is the rich side?
280 to El Camino is "oldish rich" (made their millions in the 1980s-2000s), the El Camino to 101 is "new rich" (made their millions in the 2000s-2010s), and 101 to Meta used to be a Samoan ghetto (literally, redlining was legal until the 60s and unofficially the norm until the 90s) until they were gentrified out.
The old money (rich before tech) to the West of 280 in Woodside and Portola Valley.