One dark thing the article doesn't seem to mention: what about COVID-19 evictions?
Have to get new tenants when the old ones are being kicked out or going back home to live with their parents.
Rents are dropping across the US
111–120 of 400 posts
Re: Rents are dropping across the US
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe this sounds strange, but I think there is also a category of people who prefer suburbs or exurbs and are really bitter that the pendulum has swung back to cities in the last ~20 years. They are really eager to see a trend out of small amounts of data. Or proclaim urban life dead, now and forever. I personally feel strongly in the other direction. We had the infamous "white flight" and car-centric communities an…
Does denser living really matter if most of the business and professional jobs go remote? The traffic in my city (Austin) has plummeted dramatically since before Covid.
I’ve been a remote worker far longer than Covid and live in a dense (for the US) area. For me the density value comes from things that specifically can’t go remote.
Having parks, beaches, produce shops, restaurants, schools and friends in walking distance is the value.
Covid has proven those things can’t be replicated online.
Re: Rents are dropping across the US
#113Not only are they dropping, the incentives being offered around NYC are pretty nice. 50% off security deposit and 1 month free are what I've recently received. I checked back to see a week or two after and they were offering 2 months for free with 50% off the deposit.
They give a month "free" to avoid dropping the official rent. Make them drop it.
Re: Rents are dropping across the US
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe this sounds strange, but I think there is also a category of people who prefer suburbs or exurbs and are really bitter that the pendulum has swung back to cities in the last ~20 years. They are really eager to see a trend out of small amounts of data. Or proclaim urban life dead, now and forever. I personally feel strongly in the other direction. We had the infamous "white flight" and car-centric communities an…
Kids change mindset. Kids love yards. They love the little creek that runs past. I love the safety. Small neighborhood, we all know each other and look out for the kids that run around playing.
Everyone says this, as if none of us who advocate for urban life understand having kids. I have two kids.
Also, they raise plenty of kids in other countries where they haven't oriented life around suburbs.
Also, this was more true in the United States before white flight, and the US raised plenty of healthy kids then.
So I don't think the kid thing makes as much sense as they say. But the state of US school systems does make the urban kid raising thing needlessly expensive for many.
Re: Rents are dropping across the US
#115"across the US" as in "in expensive coastal cities." I don't know the broader trend but, anecdotally, I know people who have/are in the process of moving out of cities for more rural locations. One couple I know just moved out of a major Northeast city to the coast of Maine. Others are seriously considering vacating NYC etc. With many tech industry jobs mostly WFH until the end of the year and the future in general u…
"Expensive" and "coastal" are critical caveats. Looking at the full Zumper report (https://www.zumper.com/blog/rental-price-data/), there are surprisingly high year-over-year increases in a lot of other metro areas: Arizona sees nearly 8% increases in both Scottsdale and Tucson; Austin, TX is up almost 7% while even California has seen sizable increases in its second-tier cities like Sacramento (7%) and Bakersfield (6%).
The CNN story gives the impression that this is a nationwide trend, but it's really isolated to the housing markets that have been the most unaffordable in recent years.
Re: Rents are dropping across the US
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
My point was that a lot of those trendy bars, restaurants, etc. may no longer exist if a lot of people who can afford to move away. A lot of the elements of city life in say NYC or Boston in the 1990s were a lot different from today. But, to your point, yeah a return to a more gritty and bohemian version of urban life would be appealing to some.
Personally I miss the dives, the open mic nights, the hole-in-the-wall restaurants that have been slowly getting replaced with gleaming Ikea-fever-dream "fast-casual artisan eateries" and the like. (If I'm being honest the latter have a certain appeal to me too, but I think it's a travesty when they supplant things that are irreplaceably more human)
LA is actually good for this, because despite a few rich neighborhoods, it’s primarily an immigrant and working class city.
I grew up in the Midwest, which people romanticize as the real America, small town life, etc. But now it’s mostly strip malls, chain stores, and deranged, adversarial politics. In LA, by contrast, I could find a small, locally-owned business for just about any service or need and people were friendly and accepting of everyone.
If you can separate yourself out from the Hollywood BS and gentrified neighborhoods, it’s really a great place.
Re: Rents are dropping across the US
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Maybe not so good for those who were especially attached to either the vibrant city life or busy office life. I don't understand this reasoning. Was city life not vibrant when rents were 1/3rd the price? If anything, "hypergentrification" tends to have a sterilizing effect on city life. To be honest I'm kinda looking forward to it. Nothing against HENRYs (High earners, not rich yet)... but their "cultural tastes" a…
Maybe this sounds strange, but I think there is also a category of people who prefer suburbs or exurbs and are really bitter that the pendulum has swung back to cities in the last ~20 years. They are really eager to see a trend out of small amounts of data. Or proclaim urban life dead, now and forever. I personally feel strongly in the other direction. We had the infamous "white flight" and car-centric communities an…
> Maybe this sounds strange, but I think there is also a category of people who prefer suburbs or exurbs and are really bitter that the pendulum has swung back to cities in the last ~20 years.
What would they be bitter about?
The suburbs of "thriving" cities are "thriving" in basically exactly the same way as the city centers are. Even in the extreme examples like the Bay Area, the crazy SF prices haven't stopped prices in Mountain View from also going nuts.
Re: Rents are dropping across the US
#118LOL say's California! I have seen steady rent prices and decreasing housing prices.
Even within California it's mostly just a shift from urban areas to suburban and rural. For instance, leaving San Francisco and moving to Sacramento or Tahoe or Santa Cruz.
Re: Rents are dropping across the US
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m not sure why that’s a contradiction. If you could buy a nice new private jet for $100,000 it would be reasonable to call that a good deal, even if it’s more than what most people make in a year.
It's a contradiction because a regular 2-bed apartment is a basic essential necessity for human life, and not an extravagant ultra-luxury like a nice new private jet is.
People have been living without "regular 2-bed apartments" for thousands of years. I would hardly call it an "essential necessity" for human life.
Re: Rents are dropping across the US
#120Seems silly to discuss the falling rental prices in prestigious cities without even a nod to AirBNB. AirBNB rentals have collapsed , and so a lot of owners have moved their properties into conventional long-term rental. This has created a glut in the rental market, and is driving prices down. https://www.straight.com/news/some-vancouver-airbnb-units-ar...
Whats intriguing is the person doing the "calling out" in the article/on twitter is pointing out that these are supposed to be owner-occupied if listed on AirBnb.
they are supposed to be in Vancouver.