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Mountain View, California looks like this: https://www.commercialcafe.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/shutterstock_1028985868_Featured-image.jpg https://w

Mountain View, California looks like this: https://www.commercialcafe.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/shutterstock_1028985868_Featured-image.jpg https://www.commercialcafe.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites... It is home to (or adjacent to the home of) the most valuable companies in the world. The reason it doesn’t look like Shenzhen is because 1) Americans invest a huge portion of their life savings into their homes which means 2) preventing that asset from depreciating is important and 3) scarcity is the easiest way to accomplish that and 4) homeowners have disproportionate political power to do so. As long as these (by national standards) mediocre houses keep appreciating, homeowners will fight change.

rcpt 2y ago
1,2,3 are also true in Shenzhen. It's 4 that's different here.
- janalsncm 2y ago
  The US has also exercised eminent domain historically. We can do it. American cities weren’t all government property before Uncle Sam put highways through many of them. It might be wise to revisit this for other improvements. When the Chinese government exercises eminent domain, my understanding is that many people want their homes to be targeted because of the (comparatively) lucrative payouts. Cash neutralizes concerns 1, 2, and 3. Now that people in California have held their homes long enough, buying them out is a lot more expensive. There are better ways to make the numbers work, though.
ameliaquining 2y ago
It's not trivially obvious that upzoning would be bad for property values. If it becomes possible to build a giant apartment building on a plot of land in a high-demand area, that makes developers willing to pay substantial sums for it. (The homeownership paradigm does cause various other problems, though.)
- rcpt 2y ago
  It's the variance, not the expected value. People are already 5x leveraged into the asset they don't need the extra risk.
- janalsncm 2y ago
  Not just that, having more housing makes it possible for even more companies to move in. Apple/Google/Meta are great but they are trillion dollar companies and can afford to pay top dollar. There are many others who would like to. I believe adding more housing would induce a ton of demand.
- loeg 2y ago
  In fact, in expectation upzoning directly increases property values.

rcpt 2y ago

1,2,3 are also true in Shenzhen. It's 4 that's different here.

janalsncm 2y ago
The US has also exercised eminent domain historically. We can do it. American cities weren’t all government property before Uncle Sam put highways through many of them. It might be wise to revisit this for other improvements. When the Chinese government exercises eminent domain, my understanding is that many people want their homes to be targeted because of the (comparatively) lucrative payouts. Cash neutralizes concerns 1, 2, and 3. Now that people in California have held their homes long enough, buying them out is a lot more expensive. There are better ways to make the numbers work, though.

ameliaquining 2y ago

It's not trivially obvious that upzoning would be bad for property values. If it becomes possible to build a giant apartment building on a plot of land in a high-demand area, that makes developers willing to pay substantial sums for it. (The homeownership paradigm does cause various other problems, though.)

rcpt 2y ago
It's the variance, not the expected value. People are already 5x leveraged into the asset they don't need the extra risk.
janalsncm 2y ago
Not just that, having more housing makes it possible for even more companies to move in. Apple/Google/Meta are great but they are trillion dollar companies and can afford to pay top dollar. There are many others who would like to. I believe adding more housing would induce a ton of demand.
loeg 2y ago
In fact, in expectation upzoning directly increases property values.