4 ms·
As one bit of anecdata: there's a proposed development in my suburb of Perth just 3km from the city centre along one of the major bus routes. It's a 13-storey b
by iamthemonster 3y ago
As one bit of anecdata: there's a proposed development in my suburb of Perth just 3km from the city centre along one of the major bus routes. It's a 13-storey block of flats that got whittled down to 9 storeys by NIMBY backlash and the NIMBYs are pushing for six storeys, because that was the council's plan several years ago. This has been dragging on for over a year now.
There's not just endless land in Australia but there's also endless room to grow cities upwards. There's nothing technical about our lack of housing, it's 100% a decision.
- fakedang 3y agoI like this anecdote because it's the exact opposite of what I've seen in Dubai, Doha, Riyadh and practically any city where they're building up massive infrastructure. The government has a vision for a certain skyline to take shape, so small scale residential don't really find much government support. On the other hand, the governments strongly encourage a 70-storey residential skyscraper with a wonky rad shape, because why not? The end result is a massive oversupply of homes - there was a such a large glut that prices remained depressed even now, except for Dubai after the Russo-Ukrainian war. My cousin lives in a cozy 3 bedroom rental in Dammam, just outside Aramco City (the part where all the Western oil engineers live and where there are American schools and bars and stuff), for a tenth of what I pay for my tiny apartment in Zurich (which is at the typical level for any non-sharing home for a major city worldwide). If living in a liberalizing autocracy doesn't rock your boat, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are nice options. I've seen a lot of Israeli techies moving to the UAE too.