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Clickbait title. Article is about the real estate prices in Austin, TX after Tesla announced the move there. Will real estate ever be normal again? I think t

Clickbait title. Article is about the real estate prices in Austin, TX after Tesla announced the move there. Will real estate ever be normal again? I think that what's happening in real estate is perfectly normal from an economics point of view. Mortgage rates are extremely low, more people are moving because of remote work opportunities, and the younger folks wanting to buy homes now outnumber the baby boomers, all of which has created high demand for houses. Zoning regulations seem to have limited the construction of denser, multi-family home options like townhomes, duplexes, etc. And construction of new homes was likely affected by supply problems with labor and materials during the height of the pandemic.

mdaniel 5y ago
> Zoning regulations seem to have limited the construction of denser, multi-family home options like townhomes, duplexes, etc. I was curious about that claim and had a look in Berkeley; there are _a lot_ of R2 zoned plots, and while I didn't do the math, just eyeballing the colors I'd guess there are actually more R2 than R1 plots https://www.cityofberkeley.info/gisportal/ https://www.cityofberkeley.info/gisportal/ The SF map is objectively harder to use, but seems to have a similar "majority is RH-2 zoned" story: https://sfplanning.org/sites/default/files/resources/2019-02/zoning_use_districts.pdf https://sfplanning.org/sites/default/files/resources/2019-02...
anonu 5y ago
agree. this is the "new normal". $4tr stimulus which takes years to permeate through the economy + continued low interest rates + population and worker reshuffle post-pandemic which will take many many years to figure out.
jp57 5y ago
Yeah, this article is describing the situation in Austin the spring. I'm here, my wife is an agent. Prices are higher now than they were, but the multiple-offer insanity has long since abated. I saw this article and couldn't figure out why it was news.
vlunkr 5y ago
On top of the things you mentioned, the pandemic caused supply shortages, meaning new development was slowed at a time when it should have accelerated. Also, I don't have evidence for this, but there seems to be phycological impact where people really want what they can't have, and are willing to bid more, and go into more debt than they would in normal circumstances.
- janeroe 5y ago
  > the pandemic caused supply shortages Right, it's that Pandemic guy who is ruining everything. He's the one who prints money, closes cities, organizes supply shortages, exacerbates poverty. Someone must arrest him already.
MuffinFlavored 5y ago
> which has created high demand for houses Does anybody have any guess on when that high demand will come down and match more closely to the supply? I don't see anything that will push residential real estate prices down in the next few years. Interest rates and property values are linked. Selling agents help buyers target a monthly price figure, all relative to interest rates + property values. Rates low? Raise asking price. Rates high? Lower. In the end, same $x/mo payment they target that they know families can afford/shop by.

mdaniel 5y ago

> Zoning regulations seem to have limited the construction of denser, multi-family home options like townhomes, duplexes, etc. I was curious about that claim and had a look in Berkeley; there are _a lot_ of R2 zoned plots, and while I didn't do the math, just eyeballing the colors I'd guess there are actually more R2 than R1 plots https://www.cityofberkeley.info/gisportal/ https://www.cityofberkeley.info/gisportal/ The SF map is objectively harder to use, but seems to have a similar "majority is RH-2 zoned" story: https://sfplanning.org/sites/default/files/resources/2019-02/zoning_use_districts.pdf https://sfplanning.org/sites/default/files/resources/2019-02...

anonu 5y ago

agree. this is the "new normal". $4tr stimulus which takes years to permeate through the economy + continued low interest rates + population and worker reshuffle post-pandemic which will take many many years to figure out.

jp57 5y ago

Yeah, this article is describing the situation in Austin the spring. I'm here, my wife is an agent. Prices are higher now than they were, but the multiple-offer insanity has long since abated. I saw this article and couldn't figure out why it was news.

vlunkr 5y ago

On top of the things you mentioned, the pandemic caused supply shortages, meaning new development was slowed at a time when it should have accelerated. Also, I don't have evidence for this, but there seems to be phycological impact where people really want what they can't have, and are willing to bid more, and go into more debt than they would in normal circumstances.

janeroe 5y ago
> the pandemic caused supply shortages Right, it's that Pandemic guy who is ruining everything. He's the one who prints money, closes cities, organizes supply shortages, exacerbates poverty. Someone must arrest him already.

MuffinFlavored 5y ago

> which has created high demand for houses Does anybody have any guess on when that high demand will come down and match more closely to the supply? I don't see anything that will push residential real estate prices down in the next few years. Interest rates and property values are linked. Selling agents help buyers target a monthly price figure, all relative to interest rates + property values. Rates low? Raise asking price. Rates high? Lower. In the end, same $x/mo payment they target that they know families can afford/shop by.