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The largest factor in new housing construction is land cost, and withholding land from new construction largely as a financial asset. Land-value taxation direc

The largest factor in new housing construction is land cost, and withholding land from new construction largely as a financial asset. Land-value taxation directly addresses both factors. Note that this is a tax on the land, not (as most property taxes are) on improvements. This increases the costs of holding unimproved land, and directly incentivises the improvements of land. As with numerous other types of widespread phenomena, localised zoning restrictions do little to explain why new housing is so unavailable on a global basis, both across the US in hugely disparate cities, counties, and states, as well as in many places worldwide. The places which seem to have the most affordable housing are those in which capital is least incentivised to buy and hold it. Notably Vienna, Austria, and of all places, Tokyo, Japan. There are any number of other factors which also play roles, but those tend to vary strongly amongst regions. Zoning is a problem but not the problem, as are certain building codes and other restrictions. I'd include those in elements to be addressed, but focus on the main problem.

mgh95 2y ago
> The largest factor in new housing construction is land cost, and withholding land from new construction largely as a financial asset. This is incorrect. The largest factory in new single family housing construction is land cost. The largest factory in MFH is hard costs which account for 50-70% of costs compared to land at just 20% (see: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/making-apartments-more-affordable-starts-with-understanding-the-costs-of-building-them/).Both https://www.brookings.edu/articles/making-apartments-more-af... Tokyo and Vienna have substantially reduced zoning restrictions for private and public, respectively. I really don't know how you come to square the circle that "new construction [is] largely a financial asset" and "building more housing does not diminish the value of existing assets". The reality is MFH zoning is incredibly difficult in most urban zones; just look at the recent Manhattan-Harlem MFH project that was canned for a truck park due to the affordable housing crowd demanding too many concessions. Or SF. Or any number of cities that cannot effectively build housing because they really don't want housing enough to make changes to their zoning codes.

mgh95 2y ago

> The largest factor in new housing construction is land cost, and withholding land from new construction largely as a financial asset. This is incorrect. The largest factory in new single family housing construction is land cost. The largest factory in MFH is hard costs which account for 50-70% of costs compared to land at just 20% (see: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/making-apartments-more-affordable-starts-with-understanding-the-costs-of-building-them/).Both https://www.brookings.edu/articles/making-apartments-more-af... Tokyo and Vienna have substantially reduced zoning restrictions for private and public, respectively. I really don't know how you come to square the circle that "new construction [is] largely a financial asset" and "building more housing does not diminish the value of existing assets". The reality is MFH zoning is incredibly difficult in most urban zones; just look at the recent Manhattan-Harlem MFH project that was canned for a truck park due to the affordable housing crowd demanding too many concessions. Or SF. Or any number of cities that cannot effectively build housing because they really don't want housing enough to make changes to their zoning codes.