6 ms·

I invite you to actually look at the housing market in CA and show me all the older construction that’s affordable. My friends in LA (not even nice parts of it)

I invite you to actually look at the housing market in CA and show me all the older construction that’s affordable. My friends in LA (not even nice parts of it) are buying houses that are literally 100 years old for over $1M. The “fix older stock” strategy really only works in areas where people aren’t all that keen to live. Ex. It’s easy to do in Pittsburgh or Detroit. Not so easy in SF or Austin.

missedthecue 5y ago
It is literally impossible to build a new house in LA, so obviously you're not going to see the parent's point illustrated there.
- mdorazio 5y ago
  Exactly... so where would you see it?
ido 5y ago
I was under the impression Pittsburgh is one of the currently hip gentrifying cities (like Austin or Portland were 10 years ago)? At least I know several people who moved there from other, already expensive, cities.
- X6S1x6Okd1st 5y ago
  Pittsburgh lost half it's population from 1950 to 1990
  - ido 5y ago
    Right but I was talking about the last ~10 years, not 72 to 32 years ago. Berlin (where I now live) also lost a lot of population from the 40s till 1990 but has seen a lot of growth in the past decade, thus the current competitive housing market. People also used to occupy far fewer square meters/feet of housing per person in the past so even though Berlin (or Pittsburgh) had a higher population in 1940 than today it doesn't necessarily mean there's a surplus of housing.
    - mdorazio 5y ago
      Still declined in the last 10 years: https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/pittsburgh-pa-population https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/pittsburgh-pa-po...
- xhkkffbf 5y ago
  It's nice and it has some gentrification, but the housing stock is much bigger than the number of gentry that wish to become landed. There's much to enjoy there but also some sections that aren't so expensive.
  - ido 5y ago
    I hope it remains that way for a while! Up to about 2010 Berlin had a lot more available housing than demand but it caught up and resulted in the current housing shortage very quickly.

missedthecue 5y ago

It is literally impossible to build a new house in LA, so obviously you're not going to see the parent's point illustrated there.

mdorazio 5y ago
Exactly... so where would you see it?

ido 5y ago

I was under the impression Pittsburgh is one of the currently hip gentrifying cities (like Austin or Portland were 10 years ago)? At least I know several people who moved there from other, already expensive, cities.

X6S1x6Okd1st 5y ago
Pittsburgh lost half it's population from 1950 to 1990
- ido 5y ago
  Right but I was talking about the last ~10 years, not 72 to 32 years ago. Berlin (where I now live) also lost a lot of population from the 40s till 1990 but has seen a lot of growth in the past decade, thus the current competitive housing market. People also used to occupy far fewer square meters/feet of housing per person in the past so even though Berlin (or Pittsburgh) had a higher population in 1940 than today it doesn't necessarily mean there's a surplus of housing.
  - mdorazio 5y ago
    Still declined in the last 10 years: https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/pittsburgh-pa-population https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/pittsburgh-pa-po...
xhkkffbf 5y ago
It's nice and it has some gentrification, but the housing stock is much bigger than the number of gentry that wish to become landed. There's much to enjoy there but also some sections that aren't so expensive.
- ido 5y ago
  I hope it remains that way for a while! Up to about 2010 Berlin had a lot more available housing than demand but it caught up and resulted in the current housing shortage very quickly.