4 ms·

Wealthy students are a primary driver of high rent in college cities/towns

11 points by gsibble 4y ago

PaulHoule 4y ago
Everything is expensive in Boston and has been as long as I remember. It costs more to park your car in Boston than it costs in Manhattan.
- gsibble 4y ago
  It's been a major discussion in the city the rent has been increasing at an explosive rate. “By comparison, 2022 rents had increased 12.8% and 13.8% YOY for one- and two-bedroom rentals over 2021, respectively.” https://www.masslive.com/boston/2023/02/boston-rent-sags-but-remains-3rd-highest-in-country-new-report-says.html https://www.masslive.com/boston/2023/02/boston-rent-sags-but...
  - PaulHoule 4y ago
    People are saying the same about Ithaca, N.Y., like it is the small city with the highest rent in the U.S., etc.
- jseliger 4y ago
  Boston has had particularly draconian building restrictions since the '70s. The main driver of high rents in college town is building restrictions: https://www.city-journal.org/free-to-build https://www.city-journal.org/free-to-build which should be eliminated.
HomeDeLaPot 4y ago
People can rent whichever apartments they want. Even with student loan money... _maybe_ there's a case to be made that they shouldn't be able to use it for ultra-high-end luxury apartment, but anyway they're gonna have to pay those loans back. The author claims not to know what the solution is, but shouldn't it be pretty clear? If housing is too expensive because 150k college students are filling up all the luxury apartments, then... build more luxury apartments. Obviously there's a lot of money to be made for companies building apartments in the area.
- gsibble 4y ago
  I do believe a lot of these students are using loans to pay for this expensive housing. Another reason I'm infuriated when they demand student debt forgiveness. They live a luxury lifestyle and then expect for the debt to be forgiven. Completely ridiculous.
woooschter 4y ago
Yeesh, Bahston real estate. The East coast's bay area is wicked expensive, and nobody is selling with the highish interest rates unless they really have to. The apartment blocks full of rich college kids are a fact of life. You can take some solace in watching their expensive cars accumulate dents over the year in the communal garage. Smaller landlords might have better deals if you really need to be close to the city core. Areas along the green/orange lines like Brookline, Jamaica Plains, Medford might have some deals. But. Beware of the MBTA. They cannot be trusted.
acomjean 4y ago
my partner is near tufts. The students in the neighborhood driving aMercedes and a few Lexuses now (as well as a bunch of "normal" cars). It used to be more average cars. They use them a lot considering its a short walk to the school.. Massachusetts inability or lack of will to build affordable housing and improve transportation is very sad. The new governor talks about it alot, but it needs so much more supply.

11 points by gsibble 4y ago

Everything is expensive in Boston and has been as long as I remember. It costs more to park your car in Boston than it costs in Manhattan.

gsibble 4y ago
It's been a major discussion in the city the rent has been increasing at an explosive rate. “By comparison, 2022 rents had increased 12.8% and 13.8% YOY for one- and two-bedroom rentals over 2021, respectively.” https://www.masslive.com/boston/2023/02/boston-rent-sags-but-remains-3rd-highest-in-country-new-report-says.html https://www.masslive.com/boston/2023/02/boston-rent-sags-but...
- PaulHoule 4y ago
  People are saying the same about Ithaca, N.Y., like it is the small city with the highest rent in the U.S., etc.
jseliger 4y ago
Boston has had particularly draconian building restrictions since the '70s. The main driver of high rents in college town is building restrictions: https://www.city-journal.org/free-to-build https://www.city-journal.org/free-to-build which should be eliminated.

HomeDeLaPot 4y ago

People can rent whichever apartments they want. Even with student loan money... _maybe_ there's a case to be made that they shouldn't be able to use it for ultra-high-end luxury apartment, but anyway they're gonna have to pay those loans back. The author claims not to know what the solution is, but shouldn't it be pretty clear? If housing is too expensive because 150k college students are filling up all the luxury apartments, then... build more luxury apartments. Obviously there's a lot of money to be made for companies building apartments in the area.

gsibble 4y ago
I do believe a lot of these students are using loans to pay for this expensive housing. Another reason I'm infuriated when they demand student debt forgiveness. They live a luxury lifestyle and then expect for the debt to be forgiven. Completely ridiculous.

woooschter 4y ago

Yeesh, Bahston real estate. The East coast's bay area is wicked expensive, and nobody is selling with the highish interest rates unless they really have to. The apartment blocks full of rich college kids are a fact of life. You can take some solace in watching their expensive cars accumulate dents over the year in the communal garage. Smaller landlords might have better deals if you really need to be close to the city core. Areas along the green/orange lines like Brookline, Jamaica Plains, Medford might have some deals. But. Beware of the MBTA. They cannot be trusted.

acomjean 4y ago

my partner is near tufts. The students in the neighborhood driving aMercedes and a few Lexuses now (as well as a bunch of "normal" cars). It used to be more average cars. They use them a lot considering its a short walk to the school.. Massachusetts inability or lack of will to build affordable housing and improve transportation is very sad. The new governor talks about it alot, but it needs so much more supply.