5 ms·

The problem is the price of buildable land, not the buildings on it.

kurthr 8y ago
Exactly... when an uncovered parking space rents for $400-1k/mo it's hard to see how building practices are going to help. Outside of towncenter land costs are lower, but transportation is lacking. Really, it's driven by a combination of growth in high paying tech jobs, restricted geography, and tax/financing structures, as much as, zoning laws or building costs.
- StudentStuff 8y ago
  Parking is often one of the most expensive things to build in land constrained areas due to the dead load of cars that parking structures must support, with a standard spot requiring 200sqft itself, add to that 50% for ingress/egress space. Generally parking spots cost a fraction of what that space would go for if it were allowed to be lived in.
siliconunit 8y ago
Absolutely, land estate prices are totally insane in the more gentrified areas. The building itself is nearly irrelevant, see Vancouver rare land plots for measure... or most of the UK. What is in dire need is a fundamental legislation change, where the entirety of the real estate is no longer a market open to speculation, but a fundamental right of the individual and is well proportioned to any income range within a very reasonable 2:1 ratio and this even if it means depricing the already bought properties and cutting corporations out of the building business and of course limiting the amount of houses in possession to a single individual to maybe 2 and eliminate speculators/investors completely.
- ksec 8y ago
  Hong Kong has been breaking records after records in the most unaffordable places on earth to live, ranked by Median Income and Median Price of Housing. Agreed. I think the solution is, Property should not be an investment vehicle. At least it should be taxed and regulated. Although another / the major reason to what we have now is QE, pushing asset prices up.
- edmundhuber 8y ago
  Agree, but, this would only happen under the same conditions that would incite a bloody revolution.
zip1234 8y ago
The problems are the amount of buildable land in desirable areas and zoning rules preventing maximizing use of said land. In general, there is plenty of buildable land--just not necessarily where people want to live.
andrewksu 8y ago
Labor is still quite high in most major metros. NorCal is $250/sqft just for labor, $350+ turnkey.
fulafel 8y ago
Not in most places.

Exactly... when an uncovered parking space rents for $400-1k/mo it's hard to see how building practices are going to help. Outside of towncenter land costs are lower, but transportation is lacking. Really, it's driven by a combination of growth in high paying tech jobs, restricted geography, and tax/financing structures, as much as, zoning laws or building costs.

StudentStuff 8y ago
Parking is often one of the most expensive things to build in land constrained areas due to the dead load of cars that parking structures must support, with a standard spot requiring 200sqft itself, add to that 50% for ingress/egress space. Generally parking spots cost a fraction of what that space would go for if it were allowed to be lived in.

siliconunit 8y ago

Absolutely, land estate prices are totally insane in the more gentrified areas. The building itself is nearly irrelevant, see Vancouver rare land plots for measure... or most of the UK. What is in dire need is a fundamental legislation change, where the entirety of the real estate is no longer a market open to speculation, but a fundamental right of the individual and is well proportioned to any income range within a very reasonable 2:1 ratio and this even if it means depricing the already bought properties and cutting corporations out of the building business and of course limiting the amount of houses in possession to a single individual to maybe 2 and eliminate speculators/investors completely.

ksec 8y ago
Hong Kong has been breaking records after records in the most unaffordable places on earth to live, ranked by Median Income and Median Price of Housing. Agreed. I think the solution is, Property should not be an investment vehicle. At least it should be taxed and regulated. Although another / the major reason to what we have now is QE, pushing asset prices up.
edmundhuber 8y ago
Agree, but, this would only happen under the same conditions that would incite a bloody revolution.

zip1234 8y ago

The problems are the amount of buildable land in desirable areas and zoning rules preventing maximizing use of said land. In general, there is plenty of buildable land--just not necessarily where people want to live.

andrewksu 8y ago

Labor is still quite high in most major metros. NorCal is $250/sqft just for labor, $350+ turnkey.

fulafel 8y ago

Not in most places.