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Housing supply isn’t something that can’t change very fast. Housing demand can. The last 18 months has seen as dramatic a shift in housing preferences as we’ve
by JCM9 5y ago
Housing supply isn’t something that can’t change very fast. Housing demand can. The last 18 months has seen as dramatic a shift in housing preferences as we’ve seen in a while. It’s not all up though. Prices in urban cores in some places struggled a lot while the surrounding suburbs are super hot. Being stuck inside, a rethink of how much one is in “the office” and other factors led to a sudden shift where people value their own grass, larger living spaces and such over living as close as possible to an urban center. For places with good public transit this accelerated even faster.
- Majromax 5y agoThis also implies that prices may steady (even if they don't return to "normal") over the longer term even if this demand shift continues. Many of the exurban and rural areas seeing house price increases have not historically been places of high housing demand. It's not hard to build a new house there, it's just that until recently nobody wanted to. A covid-preference-induced exodus from large cities could be the best thing possible to revitalize small towns that, a generation or two ago, saw all of their young people drawn to work opportunities in the city.