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What can't be discounted besides the usual suspects of bad zoning, high cost of land etc. is construction costs. Basically an area gets so expensive that it pri

What can't be discounted besides the usual suspects of bad zoning, high cost of land etc. is construction costs. Basically an area gets so expensive that it prices out construction workers and their families. This is being seen in the bay area now as a typical single family home goes for over 1M in the pennisula/SF/South Bay area. Go farther out to the east bay, far south bay(gilroy etc) and prices are still 700/800k+. The need for housing is so great but also it is a vicious feedback loop of ever increasing construction costs to build this housing. For LA/San Diego area it is rather large so more affordable housing can be found but overall it is still extremely expensive compared to the rest of America.

JamesBarney 6y ago
This seems reasonable but I don't think it's a significant contributor to the price of construction. None of the developers seem to mention it as an issue, and there are plenty of employees that exist in San Francisco that are paid wages that are similar to construction workers.
- pchristensen 6y ago
  But there are marginal projects that don't get built because of the higher cost of construction labor. With shortages like the Bay Area, every bit lost, for any reason, hurts.
  - JamesBarney 6y ago
    Is it true that if the labor rates in San Francisco were lower you would have more buildings 100% agreed. But its like your business is setting money on fire to keep the building warm. Could you use a regular unleaded instead of premium gasoline? Sure. Would it be better for the business? Yes at the margin. Should you spend any time deciding what is the cheapest gasoline to use to set money on fire? Not until you decide to use something besides $10 bills as fuel.
Gibbon1 6y ago
I can ask my friend again who worked on public housing projects ten years ago. But one thing I remember her saying is California is really leery of shoddy construction and the resulting blight. And blighted low income housing is a big big political problem. So low income housing has to be built to take a lot of abuse. Which of course $$$.
- masonic 6y ago
  Shoddy construction is more rampant than ever. The Silvery Towers development[0] in downtown San Jose was busted for importing a bunch of undocumented construction workers and keeping them locked up in Hayward after hours. It didn't get any real law enforcement attention until one was killed. Hang out at any Home Depot or Lowe's weekday mornings, and you'll see contractor after contractor picking up day laborers with no protection, no Workers Comp, no insurance, no nothing. And after that Berkeley balcony collapsed from shoddy construction and killed a bunch of Irish kids, not one worker who did the job could be interviewed or identified. I wouldn't buy a home built in the last 25 years in CA unless I personally knew the contractor. [0] https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/08/16/silvery-towers-project-site-death-in-san-jose-triggers-state-probe/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/08/16/silvery-towers-projec...

JamesBarney 6y ago

This seems reasonable but I don't think it's a significant contributor to the price of construction. None of the developers seem to mention it as an issue, and there are plenty of employees that exist in San Francisco that are paid wages that are similar to construction workers.

pchristensen 6y ago
But there are marginal projects that don't get built because of the higher cost of construction labor. With shortages like the Bay Area, every bit lost, for any reason, hurts.
- JamesBarney 6y ago
  Is it true that if the labor rates in San Francisco were lower you would have more buildings 100% agreed. But its like your business is setting money on fire to keep the building warm. Could you use a regular unleaded instead of premium gasoline? Sure. Would it be better for the business? Yes at the margin. Should you spend any time deciding what is the cheapest gasoline to use to set money on fire? Not until you decide to use something besides $10 bills as fuel.

Gibbon1 6y ago

I can ask my friend again who worked on public housing projects ten years ago. But one thing I remember her saying is California is really leery of shoddy construction and the resulting blight. And blighted low income housing is a big big political problem. So low income housing has to be built to take a lot of abuse. Which of course $$$.

masonic 6y ago
Shoddy construction is more rampant than ever. The Silvery Towers development[0] in downtown San Jose was busted for importing a bunch of undocumented construction workers and keeping them locked up in Hayward after hours. It didn't get any real law enforcement attention until one was killed. Hang out at any Home Depot or Lowe's weekday mornings, and you'll see contractor after contractor picking up day laborers with no protection, no Workers Comp, no insurance, no nothing. And after that Berkeley balcony collapsed from shoddy construction and killed a bunch of Irish kids, not one worker who did the job could be interviewed or identified. I wouldn't buy a home built in the last 25 years in CA unless I personally knew the contractor. [0] https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/08/16/silvery-towers-project-site-death-in-san-jose-triggers-state-probe/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/08/16/silvery-towers-projec...