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How did you leap from the existence of Houston, which has little zoning regulation, to that being the cause of market stability? How did you rule out the immen
by jhayward 8y ago
How did you leap from the existence of Houston, which has little zoning regulation, to that being the cause of market stability? How did you rule out the immense economic effect of the shale oil boom (guess what Houston's known for), and the effect of very specific and strict Texas laws regulating home lending?
Answer: you can't. Houston is a rather unique environment, and discussing it would be an interesting afternoon's work. It's not simple, though. You might notice: it is rather spread out, for instance.
- sien 8y agoIt's not just Houston. Austin, San Antonio and DFW are also affordable. Texas has grown remarkably economically and demographically over the past 20 years. Have a look at the demographia report on housing affordability (p27): http://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf http://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf Texas also has fairly high land taxes that help to reduce prices. Less zoning really does work. Another possibility is setting up a body like the Reserve Bank for a state or city that releases more land for housing and increases height restrictions when housing affordability becomes an issue.
- jhayward 8y agoAnyone using Austin, San Antonio, and DFW as examples of "less zoning" is making a severe error in fact.
- sien 8y agoOh thanks. How interesting. I thought they had freer zoning as well. For anyone else, the height limits in Austin are tight. https://fee.org/articles/9-ways-austin-keeps-its-zoning-rules-weird/ https://fee.org/articles/9-ways-austin-keeps-its-zoning-rule...