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NYC is extremely dense and yet extremely expensive.

by hgsgm 3y ago

antiframe 3y ago
Sure. It's desirable. What wouldn't cost if it weren't dense? For example, what do you think a single family house with an acre of land would cost within walking distance of Central Park and the Public Library? A bit more than the same house on a rural road 2 hours from that spot. It's all about location and desirability. People can afford an apartment since you can fit a lot more of them in that acre, but few people can afford that house.
lotsofpulp 3y ago
What if there were 20 cities like New York City?
- staringback 3y ago
  This highway is very congested. What if there were 20 more lanes?
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    Irrelevant when discussing price changes due to drastic increase in supply of urban housing. 330M people in the USA, let’s say NYC’s public transit/urban environment serves 4M of its people. 20 NYC like cities means 76M more people’s desire to live in a NYC like environment can be satisfied. Surely once you start getting into the tens of millions range, the supply gets closer to meeting demand, if not exceeding it, and prices drop. There are only so many people, after all. A 10 lane highway can easily be saturated by tens of thousands of people in a small window of time. A 100k lane highway would be a better comparison.
    - staringback 3y ago
      There can only be so many cars, after all. You make a good point, why don't we build a 100k lane highway?
theluketaylor 3y ago
NYC is an excellent case of restrictive zoning driving housing prices. A shocking number of pre-war apartment buildings in Manhattan would be illegal to build today. Not just for changes in fire escape design, but also the basic shape and height of the building. Despite being illegal designs these buildings remain highly desirable and command high prices, indicating there is a large gap between what the market wants from housing in NYC and what is permitted. NYC doesn't have uniform extreme density, with places in Queens and Staten Island having large swaths of single family homes. The popularity of NYC should mean the city is getting even more dense, but the restrictive zoning means units are being added at a much lower rate than demand. Of course prices are going to rise.

NYC is extremely dense and yet extremely expensive.

by hgsgm 3y ago

NYC is extremely dense and yet extremely expensive.

Sure. It's desirable. What wouldn't cost if it weren't dense? For example, what do you think a single family house with an acre of land would cost within walking distance of Central Park and the Public Library? A bit more than the same house on a rural road 2 hours from that spot. It's all about location and desirability. People can afford an apartment since you can fit a lot more of them in that acre, but few people can afford that house.

lotsofpulp 3y ago

What if there were 20 cities like New York City?

staringback 3y ago
This highway is very congested. What if there were 20 more lanes?
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  Irrelevant when discussing price changes due to drastic increase in supply of urban housing. 330M people in the USA, let’s say NYC’s public transit/urban environment serves 4M of its people. 20 NYC like cities means 76M more people’s desire to live in a NYC like environment can be satisfied. Surely once you start getting into the tens of millions range, the supply gets closer to meeting demand, if not exceeding it, and prices drop. There are only so many people, after all. A 10 lane highway can easily be saturated by tens of thousands of people in a small window of time. A 100k lane highway would be a better comparison.
  - staringback 3y ago
    There can only be so many cars, after all. You make a good point, why don't we build a 100k lane highway?

theluketaylor 3y ago

NYC is an excellent case of restrictive zoning driving housing prices. A shocking number of pre-war apartment buildings in Manhattan would be illegal to build today. Not just for changes in fire escape design, but also the basic shape and height of the building. Despite being illegal designs these buildings remain highly desirable and command high prices, indicating there is a large gap between what the market wants from housing in NYC and what is permitted. NYC doesn't have uniform extreme density, with places in Queens and Staten Island having large swaths of single family homes. The popularity of NYC should mean the city is getting even more dense, but the restrictive zoning means units are being added at a much lower rate than demand. Of course prices are going to rise.