7 ms·

This isn't everywhere. I live in Nashville and we have SO MUCH housing being built. Just apartment building after apartment building after apartment building.

bradfa 1y ago
Is any of it affordable for the median household income in your area? If so, that’s great!
- dzhiurgis 1y ago
  New housing doesn't have to be affordable for everyone. Median income goes towards old housing.
  - willis936 1y ago
    When more people are being priced out of a market than new housing units are added, then yeah they do need to be cheaper to make housing more available. The net result is more stratification, not less. Ask anyone how to make cheap housing though. No one has a convincing answer. I'm convinced that it's the right question.
    - rvnx 1y ago
      Default on U.S. debt. A U.S. default would spike interest rates, crash bond markets, trigger a credit freeze, and destroy consumer confidence. Mortgages would become unaffordable. Mass foreclosures and job losses would crush demand. Asset fire sales would follow. Housing prices would collapse. This would also reshuffle assets, so speculators and highly leveraged people would be punished instead of being rewarded. It will also cleanup the situation for future generations so kids won't have to be under extreme debt to pay back in some way to government, because the older people lived above their means.
      - willis936 1y ago
        That's how you make existing housing cheap. That's not how you make new housing cheap. We still have a shortage.
        rvnx 1y ago
        Myeah, not ideal, by logic it should make future housing even more expensive, as the USD weakens, so importing materials get more expensive.
        TimPC 1y ago
        The dilemma is you can’t make new housing cheap because if the price falls too much it becomes unprofitable to build and you don’t get new supply. My city is currently facing this where the interest rate hikes, build tax hikes and falling prices have created a perfect storm of vastly reduced housing starts.
        willis936 1y ago
        >if the price falls too much it becomes unprofitable to build and you don’t get new supply This is saying "building is expensive because building is expensive". Why is it expensive and how do we address it to make it cheaper?
        sokoloff 1y ago
        There’s not a lot of confusion about how to build cheaper. Build less and worse per unit. Share foundations, roofs, walls, and common areas. Build less square footage per unit. Build less fancy per square foot (cheaper kitchens and baths). Use all standard materials and finishes. Install low-end appliances and HVAC. Everything cookie-cutter; no per-unit changes. Use less land per unit (and maybe less expensive land overall). Have no private outdoor space (or just a tiny balcony). That’s not well aligned to how to maximize profits from a given unit though (fairly obviously and by intentional design).
        1y ago
    - fastball 1y ago
      Housing becomes cheaper when supply outstrips demand. That is really all there is to it. If there is induced demand due to new housing being built, you just need... more housing.
  - jimbob45 1y ago
    This does appear to be an application of Goodhart’s Law (when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure). Affordable housing is neat but it implicitly encourages infinite housing be built and does nothing to address employment and crazy down payment requirements (especially for those who could otherwise pay the mortgage!).
- smcin 1y ago
  Depends if you find the following prices affordable, for TN salaries. Here's one blog I found [0]; seems Nashville has a slight glut at the high-end: > Nashville home prices went up in May 2025, but not by much compared to last year. > Average sale price $853.8K; median price stayed flat at $613K. > But here's what's interesting: sellers had to drop their asking prices more than before. The average list price was $1.012 million, but homes actually sold for about $158K less than that... > More Homes Available for Buyers: Active inventory jumped +29% compared to last year. > Total inventory (including homes under contract) increased +16% > Sales Activity Slowing Down -18% [0]: https://www.nashvillesmls.com/blog/nashville-housing-market-update.html https://www.nashvillesmls.com/blog/nashville-housing-market-...
- _petronius 1y ago
  Affordable housing is good, but building of housing of all types lowers housing prices for everyone[0]. Build it all! [0]: https://research.upjohn.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1314&context=reports#:~:text=Recent%20studies%20show%20that%20building,%2D%20or%20lower%2Dincome%20families. https://research.upjohn.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1314...
energy123 1y ago
It is a big problem in Democratic states like California, where the leftists (Dean Preston and other leftist NIMBYs) have allied themselves with homeowner liberals to make it impossible to build housing. Republican states like Texas do a significantly better job, as you can see by looking at annual per capita new housing, and lower rental inflation. There's a growing liberal movement to change this status quo but they're still not that influential beyond rhetorical support from some Dems.
- detourdog 1y ago
  North Adams Massachusetts has plenty of empty housing. There is a lot of vacant housing in Western Massachusetts.
  - energy123 1y ago
    Those are words that are low in epistemic legibility. I look at metrics to arrive at my opinions. Things like the difference between the number of new housing per capita in various cities in California compared to Austin, Texas. Things like the R^2 when you do a linear regression of the amount of new housing per capita against changes in rental inflation.
    - detourdog 1y ago
      I can't really follow your comment but new housing costs a lot because we now have high standards for what can be legally rented for buildings with more than 5 units. The housing I was describing as plentiful is a mixture of existing housing as either standalone or fewer than 5 units.
- BryantD 1y ago
  To be fair, Minnesota is getting it right and Washington is reluctantly stumbling in the right direction. However, I’m forced to agree on the general sentiment. California is a bit embarrassing. We’ll see how the Builder’s Remedy and laws like SB 1123 play out, I suppose.
- derelicta 1y ago
chairmansteve 1y ago
No homeless people in Nashville?

bradfa 1y ago

Is any of it affordable for the median household income in your area? If so, that’s great!

dzhiurgis 1y ago
New housing doesn't have to be affordable for everyone. Median income goes towards old housing.
- willis936 1y ago
  When more people are being priced out of a market than new housing units are added, then yeah they do need to be cheaper to make housing more available. The net result is more stratification, not less. Ask anyone how to make cheap housing though. No one has a convincing answer. I'm convinced that it's the right question.
  - rvnx 1y ago
    Default on U.S. debt. A U.S. default would spike interest rates, crash bond markets, trigger a credit freeze, and destroy consumer confidence. Mortgages would become unaffordable. Mass foreclosures and job losses would crush demand. Asset fire sales would follow. Housing prices would collapse. This would also reshuffle assets, so speculators and highly leveraged people would be punished instead of being rewarded. It will also cleanup the situation for future generations so kids won't have to be under extreme debt to pay back in some way to government, because the older people lived above their means.
    - willis936 1y ago
      That's how you make existing housing cheap. That's not how you make new housing cheap. We still have a shortage.
      - rvnx 1y ago
        Myeah, not ideal, by logic it should make future housing even more expensive, as the USD weakens, so importing materials get more expensive.
      - TimPC 1y ago
        The dilemma is you can’t make new housing cheap because if the price falls too much it becomes unprofitable to build and you don’t get new supply. My city is currently facing this where the interest rate hikes, build tax hikes and falling prices have created a perfect storm of vastly reduced housing starts.
        willis936 1y ago
        >if the price falls too much it becomes unprofitable to build and you don’t get new supply This is saying "building is expensive because building is expensive". Why is it expensive and how do we address it to make it cheaper?
        sokoloff 1y ago
        There’s not a lot of confusion about how to build cheaper. Build less and worse per unit. Share foundations, roofs, walls, and common areas. Build less square footage per unit. Build less fancy per square foot (cheaper kitchens and baths). Use all standard materials and finishes. Install low-end appliances and HVAC. Everything cookie-cutter; no per-unit changes. Use less land per unit (and maybe less expensive land overall). Have no private outdoor space (or just a tiny balcony). That’s not well aligned to how to maximize profits from a given unit though (fairly obviously and by intentional design).
        1y ago
  - fastball 1y ago
    Housing becomes cheaper when supply outstrips demand. That is really all there is to it. If there is induced demand due to new housing being built, you just need... more housing.
- jimbob45 1y ago
  This does appear to be an application of Goodhart’s Law (when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure). Affordable housing is neat but it implicitly encourages infinite housing be built and does nothing to address employment and crazy down payment requirements (especially for those who could otherwise pay the mortgage!).
smcin 1y ago
Depends if you find the following prices affordable, for TN salaries. Here's one blog I found [0]; seems Nashville has a slight glut at the high-end: > Nashville home prices went up in May 2025, but not by much compared to last year. > Average sale price $853.8K; median price stayed flat at $613K. > But here's what's interesting: sellers had to drop their asking prices more than before. The average list price was $1.012 million, but homes actually sold for about $158K less than that... > More Homes Available for Buyers: Active inventory jumped +29% compared to last year. > Total inventory (including homes under contract) increased +16% > Sales Activity Slowing Down -18% [0]: https://www.nashvillesmls.com/blog/nashville-housing-market-update.html https://www.nashvillesmls.com/blog/nashville-housing-market-...
_petronius 1y ago
Affordable housing is good, but building of housing of all types lowers housing prices for everyone[0]. Build it all! [0]: https://research.upjohn.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1314&context=reports#:~:text=Recent%20studies%20show%20that%20building,%2D%20or%20lower%2Dincome%20families. https://research.upjohn.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1314...

energy123 1y ago

It is a big problem in Democratic states like California, where the leftists (Dean Preston and other leftist NIMBYs) have allied themselves with homeowner liberals to make it impossible to build housing. Republican states like Texas do a significantly better job, as you can see by looking at annual per capita new housing, and lower rental inflation. There's a growing liberal movement to change this status quo but they're still not that influential beyond rhetorical support from some Dems.

detourdog 1y ago
North Adams Massachusetts has plenty of empty housing. There is a lot of vacant housing in Western Massachusetts.
- energy123 1y ago
  Those are words that are low in epistemic legibility. I look at metrics to arrive at my opinions. Things like the difference between the number of new housing per capita in various cities in California compared to Austin, Texas. Things like the R^2 when you do a linear regression of the amount of new housing per capita against changes in rental inflation.
  - detourdog 1y ago
    I can't really follow your comment but new housing costs a lot because we now have high standards for what can be legally rented for buildings with more than 5 units. The housing I was describing as plentiful is a mixture of existing housing as either standalone or fewer than 5 units.
BryantD 1y ago
To be fair, Minnesota is getting it right and Washington is reluctantly stumbling in the right direction. However, I’m forced to agree on the general sentiment. California is a bit embarrassing. We’ll see how the Builder’s Remedy and laws like SB 1123 play out, I suppose.
derelicta 1y ago

chairmansteve 1y ago

No homeless people in Nashville?