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This is a bit simplistic. There are a lot of other reasons housing is more expensive in dense urban areas: Low supply due to underbuilding. High costs due to
by opportune 5y ago
This is a bit simplistic. There are a lot of other reasons housing is more expensive in dense urban areas:
Low supply due to underbuilding.
High costs due to difficulty in getting housing approved and forced BMR units.
More expensive land price.
Not needing to own a car saves you money.
And, most importantly, proximity to jobs and services. Living in a dense urban area saves you the time of driving and commuting, and has more amenities, restaurants, and things to do within a given X minutes. Buying time is expensive and a luxury good. This is where a lot of the demand comes from.
The problem is not just subsidization. Urban (especially “ultra-urban” in dense areas like Manhattan, non-suburban SF, central Boston or DC, Brickell, etc) residences have low supply and high demand.
- nradov 5y agoLiving in a dense urban area doesn't actually save you any commuting time on average. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/one-way-travel-time-to-work-rises.html https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/one-way-...
- opportune 5y agoThe lowest travel time to work by mode of transportation was still walking or bicycling. I think the discrepancy between this and what I said is that I was mentioning extremely dense areas and this probably has a much broader criteria for what constitutes as urban. For example the city of Houston may be urban but there is nothing walkable about it. There are markedly few areas in the US that are mega-dense. Check out the individual places I mentioned