We’re fucking doomed, if this is the only solution we could come up with.
deleted by creator
So…unregulated Capitalism to the rescue, then? You know that’s not actually going to solve the affordability problem…right? You’re just going to have a lot more, really expensive housing, that only the wealthy can afford…and a fucked up environmental mess to clean up, on top of that.
deleted by creator
The housing crisis is a supply and demand problem.
No. It isn’t. Not in any practical sense of the concept, anyway.
The only way real estate would be subject to the rules of supply and demand, is if you could find a way to build so many new properties, that demand was overshot to the point that you literally could not sell your property for any asking prices. Only then would people be forced to lower that price. That is an impossible goal.
Real estate will only get cheaper by regulating the price. It needs to be treated as a regulated commodity, and sold for an agreed upon asking price. Allowing the market to dictate that price, will always lead to a lack of affordability, regardless of supply.
deleted by creator
I think you missed the point of what I was saying. It won’t matter how many houses you build, if the price is dictated by whatever the last house in that area sold for. This is then reinforced by local property assessment and taxation systems, that effectively “lock-in” the new property values at the increased rate.
Those prices are never coming down on their own. They will only continue to rise. The only way to “out-supply” that trend, would be to build so many houses that demand drops to zero for an extended period of time. And that is never going to happen, for what should be obvious reasons.
This is far beyond “basic economics”. It’s way more complicated than that, and is only marginally dictated by supply and demand. Those “basics” would have to overcome some nearly impossible conditions, in order to have any effect on affordability.
Good now the yimbys and the “abundance” guys can shut up. Hopefully now they’ll see any of these quick fixes and “cutting the red tape” won’t meaningfully effect the housing supply and we can start to realize letting the developers do whatever they want won’t solve this crisis.