> would you rather they “overpay” for an existing house in an established neighborhood and drive gentrification, or move into new construction? How are those t

> would you rather they “overpay” for an existing house in an established neighborhood and drive gentrification, or move into new construction? How are those the two options? Aren't you forgetting about new construction in established neighbourhoods? I.e. buying up two or three low-density lots, or a older/decrepit low-land-value condo building, to replace these lot(s) with a modern, high-density mixed-use condo building, composed mostly of high-sqft condos that cost more than most SFHs? There are more units on the new lot than there were on the old lot(s), so the people buying these units are definitely "moving into new construction"; but at the same time, the creation of these units displaced previous low-cost rentals. This is 99% of what people in my city (Vancouver) are complaining about when they talk about gentrification through "luxury construction": being priced out of a neighbourhood they previously rented in, as buildings containing low-price rental units are torn down and replaced by buildings containing only high-price rental units.