4 ms·

I don't know which cities we're talking about here, but i happen to know at least a few cities that are desirable to live in even if you don't have to commute t

I don't know which cities we're talking about here, but i happen to know at least a few cities that are desirable to live in even if you don't have to commute to an office.

hot_gril 4y ago
Yeah, there are cities that are nice to live in, but a lot of them were built around particular industries or had huge commute flows that surely had something to do with the housing demand. Like SF, Sunnyvale/Palo Alto area, Pittsburgh, Redmond, and Detroit. People used to act like worker bees following the queen, but now it's more complicated, and some of the queens have moved.
- OkayPhysicist 4y ago
  San Fransisco's housing prices reflect the high pay available to tech workers living there, sure, but it would still be an extremely attractive place to live without commute reduction as a benefit. Night life, cultural scenes, gorgeous weather, it's an extremely attractive city in its own right. Urban living is extremely attractive to many people who don't have families to fill out sprawling suburban homes. If in-office white collar work collapses totally, I'd expect to see a sudden drop in housing prices as older people who were only living in the city to save on a commute rush out, followed by a delayed correction of people currently living outside of cities because they can't afford them moving in. Prices would likely remain greater than suburbia, but maybe closer to the halfway mark between current city/suburb rent costs. The cities that will be hit hard are the "cities"/glorified suburbs that litter the rest of the Bay Area. They're too expensive to for just the weather, they don't have the attractions of urban life, and basically the only reason to live in, say, Fremont, today is because it cuts your commute in half relative to living on the other side of the hills.
  - RcouF1uZ4gsC 4y ago
    > San Fransisco's housing prices reflect the high pay available to tech workers living there, sure, but it would still be an extremely attractive place to live without commute reduction as a benefit. Night life, cultural scenes, gorgeous weather, it's an extremely attractive city in its own right. It would be an attractive place to live but for the random stabbings, used needles, and human feces.
    - hot_gril 4y ago
      I can see why some people would like SF despite those issues. It's a big advantage that you can get around the city without a car and that the weather is nice, particularly those two things in combination. I still hated it for other reasons but don't assume everyone does. The thing is, for each person there willingly, it seemed like there were 10 people just moving or commuting in for work. It was assumed by default that you don't live there or at least haven't been there for long.
- emodendroket 4y ago
  The number of people who actually leave their cities for a different one for work-related reasons has plummeted over the past several decades.
Gigachad 4y ago
Problem is American cities are not nice to live in.

I don't know which cities we're talking about here, but i happen to know at least a few cities that are desirable to live in even if you don't have to commute to an office.

hot_gril 4y ago

Yeah, there are cities that are nice to live in, but a lot of them were built around particular industries or had huge commute flows that surely had something to do with the housing demand. Like SF, Sunnyvale/Palo Alto area, Pittsburgh, Redmond, and Detroit. People used to act like worker bees following the queen, but now it's more complicated, and some of the queens have moved.

OkayPhysicist 4y ago
San Fransisco's housing prices reflect the high pay available to tech workers living there, sure, but it would still be an extremely attractive place to live without commute reduction as a benefit. Night life, cultural scenes, gorgeous weather, it's an extremely attractive city in its own right. Urban living is extremely attractive to many people who don't have families to fill out sprawling suburban homes. If in-office white collar work collapses totally, I'd expect to see a sudden drop in housing prices as older people who were only living in the city to save on a commute rush out, followed by a delayed correction of people currently living outside of cities because they can't afford them moving in. Prices would likely remain greater than suburbia, but maybe closer to the halfway mark between current city/suburb rent costs. The cities that will be hit hard are the "cities"/glorified suburbs that litter the rest of the Bay Area. They're too expensive to for just the weather, they don't have the attractions of urban life, and basically the only reason to live in, say, Fremont, today is because it cuts your commute in half relative to living on the other side of the hills.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 4y ago
  > San Fransisco's housing prices reflect the high pay available to tech workers living there, sure, but it would still be an extremely attractive place to live without commute reduction as a benefit. Night life, cultural scenes, gorgeous weather, it's an extremely attractive city in its own right. It would be an attractive place to live but for the random stabbings, used needles, and human feces.
  - hot_gril 4y ago
    I can see why some people would like SF despite those issues. It's a big advantage that you can get around the city without a car and that the weather is nice, particularly those two things in combination. I still hated it for other reasons but don't assume everyone does. The thing is, for each person there willingly, it seemed like there were 10 people just moving or commuting in for work. It was assumed by default that you don't live there or at least haven't been there for long.
emodendroket 4y ago
The number of people who actually leave their cities for a different one for work-related reasons has plummeted over the past several decades.

Gigachad 4y ago

Problem is American cities are not nice to live in.