4 ms·

For the families in the story, the problem is they can't get rid of homes that are uncomfortably big. Definitely a 1%-ish problem (hell, a .1% problem. I would

by pdpi 7y ago

For the families in the story, the problem is they can't get rid of homes that are uncomfortably big. Definitely a 1%-ish problem (hell, a .1% problem. I would have plenty of use for more space but I simply can't afford it in London). However, there's another problem here, one for the rest of us — The site used for a single-family 700sqm home could've been used for something denser, that would've lowered housing costs for everybody else.

munificent 7y ago
> However, there's another problem here, one for the rest of us — The site used for a single-family 700sqm home could've been used for something denser, that would've lowered housing costs for everybody else. That's not really relevant in this case. All of the neighborhoods mentioned are low density distant suburbia. There are few jobs nearby and little incentive for growth there for working people. Housing costs are already pretty low for normal-sized houses in this area. The US is huge and most of it has very low density. Unfortunately, with the transition to a service economy, automated agriculture, and the outsourcing of most manufacturing, fewer and fewer jobs exist outside of urban centers. So you get insane housing costs in the increasingly few areas where there are lots of jobs, meanwhile other areas just languish. For the price I paid for my small Cape Cod house here in Seattle, in the small town I grew up in, I could buy a 4,500 square foot 5 bedroom / 5 bathroom mansion on a lake with a pool, two kitchens, study, game room, theater, etc. I just couldn't find a job there that would let me afford it.
- ndarwincorn 7y ago
  Same. I'm looking at buying here in ~2021, and I'm looking at houses that are ~half the size of the one I grew up in on ~half the land for 2x the price. Shortly after I moved here I rented a 450 square foot condo that sold last fall for around the current value of the house I grew up in (2800 square feet, 1 acre, creek out back). That said, those exurb mcmansions (particularly those featured in the OP) do push the boundaries of the wildland urban interface, and while their lack of density might not have the same impact on housing prices that you see in urban areas, they more or less have the same environmental impact.

by pdpi 7y ago

munificent 7y ago

> However, there's another problem here, one for the rest of us — The site used for a single-family 700sqm home could've been used for something denser, that would've lowered housing costs for everybody else. That's not really relevant in this case. All of the neighborhoods mentioned are low density distant suburbia. There are few jobs nearby and little incentive for growth there for working people. Housing costs are already pretty low for normal-sized houses in this area. The US is huge and most of it has very low density. Unfortunately, with the transition to a service economy, automated agriculture, and the outsourcing of most manufacturing, fewer and fewer jobs exist outside of urban centers. So you get insane housing costs in the increasingly few areas where there are lots of jobs, meanwhile other areas just languish. For the price I paid for my small Cape Cod house here in Seattle, in the small town I grew up in, I could buy a 4,500 square foot 5 bedroom / 5 bathroom mansion on a lake with a pool, two kitchens, study, game room, theater, etc. I just couldn't find a job there that would let me afford it.

ndarwincorn 7y ago
Same. I'm looking at buying here in ~2021, and I'm looking at houses that are ~half the size of the one I grew up in on ~half the land for 2x the price. Shortly after I moved here I rented a 450 square foot condo that sold last fall for around the current value of the house I grew up in (2800 square feet, 1 acre, creek out back). That said, those exurb mcmansions (particularly those featured in the OP) do push the boundaries of the wildland urban interface, and while their lack of density might not have the same impact on housing prices that you see in urban areas, they more or less have the same environmental impact.