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Am I the only one who hates how it's become received wisdom that, to quote the article, "A skyrocketing real estate market, fueled in large part by the tech ind

Am I the only one who hates how it's become received wisdom that, to quote the article, "A skyrocketing real estate market, fueled in large part by the tech industry" is the main culprit for this? What about height and floor area limits, surrounding communities on the peninsula that won't build, aggressive neighborhood associations in San Francisco, overly-restrictive building and zoning codes (wife is architect in SF, currently going through 2-year permitting process on one of her projects), and excessive developer fees? It's telling that other cities, e.g. Washington, DC, are experiencing similar levels of economic and population growth, without all the hand-wringing, just by building more hosting stock. It doesn't have to be this way. It's this way because SF's electorate chooses to make it this way.

arcanus 10y ago
Yep! > It's telling that other cities, e.g. Washington, DC, are experiencing similar levels of economic and population growth And not are all tech hubs. Nyc is more finance driven than tech. D.C. is a very different beast.
mahyarm 10y ago
Another story I've heard from a real estate industry employee is a high rise in downtown SF getting killed because someone proved it blocked a butterfly migration path. The local laws that empower this kind of stuff is a source of many issues here. At this rate LA will have more transit, subways and dense housing than SF in a few decades.
hguant 10y ago
There are three legal entities governing housing in and around the D.C. Metropolitan area - the District, Maryland, and Virginia. The laws and geography have worked such that Virginia is currently experiencing the benefits (from an economic/tax point of view) of the whole tech fueled growth in DC. Housing is being built in the district, but there are hard and soft limits to how much can be made available. DC is tiny, and land in and around the city center (or near a metro stop) is at a premium. Furthermore, the District has laws restricting the height of buildings - no new building is allowed to be taller than the top of the Captitol building. That's the hard limit - the soft limit is that D.C. politically is really pushin back against gentrification in all forms. There's a lot of effort being spent to keep neighborhoods and areas the way they are, which makes developing rather difficult. Maryland has had cheap housing for a while, but it's been developed already - there's nothing new being built, because it's either already at capacity, or the land is never going to be built on because it's in a super rich community. Maryland (well, the parts of Maryland amenable to housing) also has the complication of being separated from the city center by north east D.C., which is mostly residential and terrible to commute through. This wouldn't matter if the metro functioned properly, but it's been on the fritz for about 3 years now. This has resulted in a massive building spree of high rises, both for luxury condos and cheaper apartment blocks, on the other side of the river in Virginia. The Ballston area in particular has had three new apartment building open up in the last year, with more being built as I type. Sorry for the ramble, it's just interesting having grown up here, and seeing some of the reasons why things are the way they are.
- massysett 10y ago
  Your description of Maryland is completely inaccurate. There is plenty of housing being built, and lots of buildable land. NE DC is not "terrible" to commute through: quite the opposite--there are many major commuter routes built to accommodate many cars.
  - antisthenes 10y ago
    Where exactly? I've been in the area for a decade and there's maybe 1-2 luxury high rises going up at once at the most. Needless to say that's not even close to keeping up with population growth, let alone to qualify for the definition of "plenty"
    - massysett 10y ago
      OP said "there's nothing new being built" and now you're just talking about "luxury high rises". There is plenty of housing being built that is not "luxury high rises," though even plenty of those are being built too--parts of Silver Spring have been transformed over the past decade.
      - antisthenes 10y ago
        > There is plenty of housing being built that is not "luxury high rises," though even plenty of those are being built too--parts of Silver Spring have been transformed over the past decade. That is even less true. There's almost no affordable housing being built in the Silver Spring or Bethesda/Rockville area. All the condos in new construction start at ~$300k for a 1BR, which is definitely not in the affordable category. Still waiting for those counterexamples with Zillow listings and the such.
        massysett 10y ago
        Goalposts are moving all over the place here. OP: "there's nothing new being built", to which I said there is plenty being built. Then: "there's maybe 1-2 luxury high rises going up at once at the most", to which I said there is "plenty of housing being built that is not "luxury high rises"". Now the retort is "There's almost no affordable housing being built in the Silver Spring or Bethesda/Rockville area." I don't even know what you define as "affordable" but I will leave you with a $300k brand new 3BR townhouse condo right near the Beltway. I'm not going to answer your claim about SS/Bethesda/Rockville because nobody ever claimed there is plenty of affordable housing being built there. With that you can go and slide your goalposts around some more even though I have negated every single strawman that has been thrown up here. http://www.drhorton.com/Maryland/Maryland/Glenarden/Woodmore-Towne-Centre/Devon http://www.drhorton.com/Maryland/Maryland/Glenarden/Woodmore...

arcanus 10y ago

Yep! > It's telling that other cities, e.g. Washington, DC, are experiencing similar levels of economic and population growth And not are all tech hubs. Nyc is more finance driven than tech. D.C. is a very different beast.

mahyarm 10y ago

Another story I've heard from a real estate industry employee is a high rise in downtown SF getting killed because someone proved it blocked a butterfly migration path. The local laws that empower this kind of stuff is a source of many issues here. At this rate LA will have more transit, subways and dense housing than SF in a few decades.

hguant 10y ago

There are three legal entities governing housing in and around the D.C. Metropolitan area - the District, Maryland, and Virginia. The laws and geography have worked such that Virginia is currently experiencing the benefits (from an economic/tax point of view) of the whole tech fueled growth in DC. Housing is being built in the district, but there are hard and soft limits to how much can be made available. DC is tiny, and land in and around the city center (or near a metro stop) is at a premium. Furthermore, the District has laws restricting the height of buildings - no new building is allowed to be taller than the top of the Captitol building. That's the hard limit - the soft limit is that D.C. politically is really pushin back against gentrification in all forms. There's a lot of effort being spent to keep neighborhoods and areas the way they are, which makes developing rather difficult. Maryland has had cheap housing for a while, but it's been developed already - there's nothing new being built, because it's either already at capacity, or the land is never going to be built on because it's in a super rich community. Maryland (well, the parts of Maryland amenable to housing) also has the complication of being separated from the city center by north east D.C., which is mostly residential and terrible to commute through. This wouldn't matter if the metro functioned properly, but it's been on the fritz for about 3 years now. This has resulted in a massive building spree of high rises, both for luxury condos and cheaper apartment blocks, on the other side of the river in Virginia. The Ballston area in particular has had three new apartment building open up in the last year, with more being built as I type. Sorry for the ramble, it's just interesting having grown up here, and seeing some of the reasons why things are the way they are.

massysett 10y ago
Your description of Maryland is completely inaccurate. There is plenty of housing being built, and lots of buildable land. NE DC is not "terrible" to commute through: quite the opposite--there are many major commuter routes built to accommodate many cars.
- antisthenes 10y ago
  Where exactly? I've been in the area for a decade and there's maybe 1-2 luxury high rises going up at once at the most. Needless to say that's not even close to keeping up with population growth, let alone to qualify for the definition of "plenty"
  - massysett 10y ago
    OP said "there's nothing new being built" and now you're just talking about "luxury high rises". There is plenty of housing being built that is not "luxury high rises," though even plenty of those are being built too--parts of Silver Spring have been transformed over the past decade.
    - antisthenes 10y ago
      > There is plenty of housing being built that is not "luxury high rises," though even plenty of those are being built too--parts of Silver Spring have been transformed over the past decade. That is even less true. There's almost no affordable housing being built in the Silver Spring or Bethesda/Rockville area. All the condos in new construction start at ~$300k for a 1BR, which is definitely not in the affordable category. Still waiting for those counterexamples with Zillow listings and the such.
      - massysett 10y ago
        Goalposts are moving all over the place here. OP: "there's nothing new being built", to which I said there is plenty being built. Then: "there's maybe 1-2 luxury high rises going up at once at the most", to which I said there is "plenty of housing being built that is not "luxury high rises"". Now the retort is "There's almost no affordable housing being built in the Silver Spring or Bethesda/Rockville area." I don't even know what you define as "affordable" but I will leave you with a $300k brand new 3BR townhouse condo right near the Beltway. I'm not going to answer your claim about SS/Bethesda/Rockville because nobody ever claimed there is plenty of affordable housing being built there. With that you can go and slide your goalposts around some more even though I have negated every single strawman that has been thrown up here. http://www.drhorton.com/Maryland/Maryland/Glenarden/Woodmore-Towne-Centre/Devon http://www.drhorton.com/Maryland/Maryland/Glenarden/Woodmore...