Mass-scale housebuilding isn’t necessary – there is already enough housing stock. But we need to learn the wisdom of the last century when it comes to landlordism
The yimby argument has always seemed flimsy. Its strange logic is that speculative developers would build homes in order to devalue them: that they would somehow act against their own interests by producing enough surplus homes to bring down the average price of land and housing. That would be surprisingly philanthropic behaviour.
YIMBYism works - Tokyo housing is incredibly affordable not because of subsidies but because they just never stopped building more housing.
The problem with American housing is that it’s too easy to block.
Unless I’m mistaken the revenue source for property developers is selling the property. They don’t give a single fuck about how valuable it is after they’ve offloaded it.
People like to point to Tokyo as an example of YIMBYism fixing housing affordability, but I am skeptical of this explanation because 1) it fails to explain Japan’s spectular property bubble of the 1980s which happened in spite of its government loosening housing policy, and 2) housing prices in Japan are also currently rising and hitting all time highs.
Indeed, it was noted that loose housing policy during the 1980s bubble instead seemed to contribute to higher land and house prices, as developers prioritised office and retail space which had higher margins, at the expense of housing.
Instead, some economists attribute Japan’s relative affordability to their general fear in the property market that was leftover from the bubble bursting.
Also, property developers care very much about how valuable it is after they’ve sold it. This is because the more valuable property is, the higher their margins for future projects.
It’s trickle-down economics applied to housing…
YIMBYism works - Tokyo housing is incredibly affordable not because of subsidies but because they just never stopped building more housing.
The problem with American housing is that it’s too easy to block.
Unless I’m mistaken the revenue source for property developers is selling the property. They don’t give a single fuck about how valuable it is after they’ve offloaded it.
People like to point to Tokyo as an example of YIMBYism fixing housing affordability, but I am skeptical of this explanation because 1) it fails to explain Japan’s spectular property bubble of the 1980s which happened in spite of its government loosening housing policy, and 2) housing prices in Japan are also currently rising and hitting all time highs.
Indeed, it was noted that loose housing policy during the 1980s bubble instead seemed to contribute to higher land and house prices, as developers prioritised office and retail space which had higher margins, at the expense of housing.
Instead, some economists attribute Japan’s relative affordability to their general fear in the property market that was leftover from the bubble bursting.
Also, property developers care very much about how valuable it is after they’ve sold it. This is because the more valuable property is, the higher their margins for future projects.
Why Tokyo’s record property prices are not just another real estate bubble - https://www.ft.com/content/40ce3cdc-5bc3-486f-b9e9-700af1087a65
Power from the Ground Up: Japan’s Land Bubble - https://hbr.org/1990/05/power-from-the-ground-up-japans-land-bubble
Property Finance in Japan: Expansion and Collapse of the Bubble Economy - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1068/a260199