Place

The Demand for Housing

What you want is not often what you can afford and what is available. I want to visit the moon, but I don't think that will happen soon enough. When we were looking for our house, the search took most of the Spring of 1999. The housing stock available was either too small, too expensive, in a neighborhood we didn't like, too heavily taxed, or just plan ugly.

CoolTown Studios discusses what the citizenry wants in a home. Survey says, they want to walk. Fannie Mae says a great neighborhood is more important than a great house. The market says that demand is so high that people buy anything they can get their hands on. There is not enough supply, and new homes are built large and far away. Or, as a commenter at Brad DeLong's writes,

Fact: the US population is growing by an estimated 3 million plus annually. In 8 boom states, growth is over 2% a year.

Fact: most of that growth is concentrated in a few dozen cities.

Fact: the only place to build in these high-growth regions is out in the boonies.

Fact: gas is getting more expensive by the day, commute times are skyrocketing, and everyone wants to live near scarce public transport (but no one wants "them" to build new stations or lines near existing housing stock).

Result: inner suburbs of big cities, especially those handful of places with good public transport, walkable streets, safety, amenities AND good schools are golden. Prices there will never go down, but the rate of increase will slow to the single digits, maybe even (shocker) below 5% in the near future.

Those are some numbers I'd like to validate before placing a bet.

3:46:50 PM # Google It!
categories: Place