5 ms·

Feedback systems with long delays are going to be easier to destabilize than systems with short feedback cycles. There's a lot of "memory" in housing prices.

Feedback systems with long delays are going to be easier to destabilize than systems with short feedback cycles. There's a lot of "memory" in housing prices. Houses are just about the hardest item to build in America today. You need land, and you cannot make them in a factory. All cost cutting measures have been in materials (to the point where quality is degrading). Regulations push new players out of the market - increasing prices. Housing is a social prestige item like health care and education - so that will drive costs up too. The US will have 100m more people in the coming decades no matter what - so demand will always be high. Solution? There is none. It's how the power elite want it.

soco 3y ago
Healthcare and education are prestige items around there? Did I get this correctly?
- skywhopper 3y ago
  Education is for sure. Where do you live that it isn’t?
- lucidguppy 3y ago
  Yep: Read it in here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elephant_in_the_Brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elephant_in_the_Brain Medicine shows that others are going to bat for you to keep you alive.
vidanay 3y ago
> you cannot make them in a factory You most certainly can build 80% of a house in a factory.
curun1r 3y ago
> You need land, and you cannot make them in a factory The land part is true, but there are people working on the second part. One of the more exciting ones I’ve seen recently is Cover [0]. They do the majority of building in their factory and only the foundation work and assembly is done onsite. But they’ve got enough flexibility to adapt their designs to the lot and they help buyers with the permitting hassles, so it’s a lot more appealing than some of the other kit home options. And, more importantly, their product has a luxury feel, so it doesn’t feel like you’re compromising. They’re focused on the LA area and the ADU market right now, but if that works out, it’s easy to see them getting a lot of funding to scale out their efforts to other markets. I’m hopeful that an approach like this can drive down the cost of new construction, especially when combined with streamlined permitting in places with housing crises where the political motivation will be there to adopt more a more builder-friendly environment. If anyone is interested in seeing an actual finished project, a luxury real estate YouTuber did a tour [1] of one of their houses recently. [0] https://buildcover.com/ https://buildcover.com/ [1] https://youtu.be/h2_CcNuNgXw https://youtu.be/h2_CcNuNgXw
- jlarocco 3y ago
  But the expensive part in most places is the land. Even if the material and labor were free, an empty lot here in Boulder would cost over $500k, and you won't find any. I imagine it's the same problem in most cities (though maybe not so expensive).

soco 3y ago

Healthcare and education are prestige items around there? Did I get this correctly?

skywhopper 3y ago
Education is for sure. Where do you live that it isn’t?
lucidguppy 3y ago
Yep: Read it in here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elephant_in_the_Brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elephant_in_the_Brain Medicine shows that others are going to bat for you to keep you alive.

vidanay 3y ago

> you cannot make them in a factory You most certainly can build 80% of a house in a factory.

curun1r 3y ago

> You need land, and you cannot make them in a factory The land part is true, but there are people working on the second part. One of the more exciting ones I’ve seen recently is Cover [0]. They do the majority of building in their factory and only the foundation work and assembly is done onsite. But they’ve got enough flexibility to adapt their designs to the lot and they help buyers with the permitting hassles, so it’s a lot more appealing than some of the other kit home options. And, more importantly, their product has a luxury feel, so it doesn’t feel like you’re compromising. They’re focused on the LA area and the ADU market right now, but if that works out, it’s easy to see them getting a lot of funding to scale out their efforts to other markets. I’m hopeful that an approach like this can drive down the cost of new construction, especially when combined with streamlined permitting in places with housing crises where the political motivation will be there to adopt more a more builder-friendly environment. If anyone is interested in seeing an actual finished project, a luxury real estate YouTuber did a tour [1] of one of their houses recently. [0] https://buildcover.com/ https://buildcover.com/ [1] https://youtu.be/h2_CcNuNgXw https://youtu.be/h2_CcNuNgXw

jlarocco 3y ago
But the expensive part in most places is the land. Even if the material and labor were free, an empty lot here in Boulder would cost over $500k, and you won't find any. I imagine it's the same problem in most cities (though maybe not so expensive).