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The root cause is the state or local govt preventing new housing. If there were enough housing, rent fixing wouldn't even make a dent.
by cscurmudgeon 3y ago
The root cause is the state or local govt preventing new housing. If there were enough housing, rent fixing wouldn't even make a dent.
- JaimeThompson 3y agoThen why are rents going up drastically all over texas, even in small towns where damn near anything can be built?
- cscurmudgeon 3y agoSigh, it is always supply and demand. If demand is higher than supply, prices rise. It is a universal law of economics that people pretend doesn't apply to housing. In these towns, do you have evidence demand is stable and yet prices rise? https://scott-wiener.medium.com/yes-supply-demand-apply-to-housing-even-in-san-francisco-193c1b0c190f https://scott-wiener.medium.com/yes-supply-demand-apply-to-h...
- JaimeThompson 3y agoAdam Smith would disagree.
- cscurmudgeon 3y agoThanks for posting relevant data. I have changed my stance entirely.
- JaimeThompson 3y agoI would expect that someone discussing this topic would be familiar with the various things Adam Smith and others have said about collusion to increase prices and related topics.
- gedy 3y agoSome/much of this may be just inflation and the devaluing of the dollar.
- NovemberWhiskey 3y agoNever mind the small towns. Houston has no zoning laws at all, yet: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/housing/2023/07/25/457594/a-majority-of-harris-county-renters-are-cost-burdened-by-rising-rent-prices-report-says/ https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/housing/2023/07/...
- HDThoreaun 3y agoHouston has covenants which basically pick up the role of zoning laws. Famously they have massive parking minimums which prevents densifying.
- kilotaras 3y agoIIRC Houston does not have zoning in direct sense of the word, but has a set of regulations and restrictions (e.g. on height, setbacks, parking minimums, lot sizes, etc.) that still drastically limits options for buildings.
- listenallyall 3y agoThat may be one cause, in some towns and cities, but it is far from universal. For one thing, demand growth has accelerated in many places, so building homes at a historic rate went from sufficient to meet to demand, to insufficient. You have flippers taking low-priced homes off the market, and you have AirBnb'ers taking other homes off the market (or not selling theirs when they move). There are higher expectations of what a house should contain (sq ft, # of bathrooms, closet/garage size, quality of fixtures) so lots of housing stock technically exists but is not really part of the supply for most buyers.
- cscurmudgeon 3y ago> but it is far from universal None of what you said contradicts that. Supply is always measured relative to demand.
- listenallyall 3y agoYou wrote: "The root cause is the state or local govt preventing new housing." And I'm saying supply and demand can get out of whack for reasons that have nothing to do with the government, they can even get misaligned under pro-growth policies.
- oneshtein 3y agoThe root cause is that houses are built for decades. It's impossible to plan ahead at this timescale. The alternative is to make standard places for stackable houses, with flexible infrastructure (electricity, water, sewer, road, parking space) to fulfil demand in days, instead of decades.