Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

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Anondson
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby Anondson » October 5th, 2017, 12:54 pm

For profit and non-profit developers are worried about the housing crunch and not being able to keep up with demand.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... using.html

Particularly that if they can’t get supply up with demand city governments will seriously bring in rent control.

kirby96
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby kirby96 » October 20th, 2017, 6:25 am

I'm definitely getting the sense that homes above the 250-300k range are moderating in price in South Mpls. I know it's fall and all, but we have both the home we live in and GF's small home that is renting out and planning to sell, so we've been watching values pretty closely. Houses in her 250k range have stayed strong (which has been well documented), but higher priced home are definitely showing actual reductions from initial list that are larger and more frequent than any time in the past 3-4 years. Probably not a horrible thing. Sorta seemed like earlier this year prices were going up so consistently that people decided to push it and just say "heck, why not try to get $50k more?"

seanrichardryan
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby seanrichardryan » December 9th, 2017, 5:58 pm

Race for affordable houses sends developers back out to the exurbs
High costs in the metro are pushing development out; a project in Dayton would double the number of homes there.


http://www.startribune.com/race-for-aff ... 462880903/
Q. What, what? A. In da butt.

min-chi-cbus
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby min-chi-cbus » December 13th, 2017, 5:08 pm

Not to be too nitpicky, but 1,700 homes over 10-20 years is between 85 and 170 homes per year.....not exactly breakneck greenfield development. Blaine built as many units in 2 years in the not-too-distant past (2004-2005). That part of the story is not that interesting.

The more interesting aspect of the story to me is the seemingly inevitable spillover effect of lower-income housing to the suburbs -- particularly the exurbs. I find this concept fascinating and somewhat concerning as well.

As an aside/spinoff from this discussion....why is it that developers can't develop SFHs in greenfields closer to how neighborhoods (emphasis on that word) were developed in the 1900's and even as late as the 1950's? It seems like it would be in their best interest to maximize development on the land if land prices are a big constraint (and doing so without townhomes or other attached housing). It can't just be a "sign of the times" either, as I notice far better utilization of suburban developments in many other metros (though more exclusively higher-cost metros and/or metros out West that have either serious land constraints or environmental factors/laws to consider). Still, it seems that developing this way would be a very easy way to limit the overhead (land, infrastructure, etc.) and maximize the output (number of units/businesses) and achieve what everybody is most concerned about -- affordability/bang for your buck. To this end, I've seen a few tiny developments that exhibit the characteristics I'm describing (e.g. Clover Field in Chaska), but it doesn't seem to have caught on completely.

Maybe this metro's microeconomic factors include a.) plentiful land with few constraints -- physical or otherwise, and b.) a current population that has disproportionately rural roots compared to other metros where people don't expect as much land?

SurlyLHT
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby SurlyLHT » December 13th, 2017, 5:27 pm

I've lived in the Exurbs and people looking for affordable housing out there is risky. Yes, housing is cheaper, but a lot of other costs especially those relating to transportation are pricier. It also seems like people move out there and often buy homes and lifestyles they can't afford with their limited budgets. They then find themselves in trouble when fuel costs rise or a recession hits. They are much less mobile as a labor input. If you live in the East Bethel area and lose your job in Blaine or Anoka, you can't take a job in Bloomington or Woodbury nearly as easily as you could if you lived in Roseville.

Anondson
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Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby Anondson » January 4th, 2018, 4:22 pm

Hot on the heels of the 2017 housing laws in California, this year California has a proposed package of new housing laws that would upzone near transit stations.

https://medium.com/@Scott_Wiener/califo ... 6fe95e41da

Other changes include changes to make farmworker housing easier to build.

Kind love to see this happen for LRT and commuter stations in Minnesota.

xandrex
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby xandrex » January 5th, 2018, 10:41 am

This is obviously a step in the right direction, but part of me wonders if this will mean certain groups of people will be more swayed to fight transit investments in the future if they know their neighborhood faces upzoning.

RailBaronYarr
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby RailBaronYarr » January 5th, 2018, 2:29 pm

I think the route many housing/transit advocates have taken in tying up-zones to transit access is generally not great. The reality is that a place like CARAG or the Wedge or any neighborhood in Northeast is pretty dense despite relatively bad transit. And the neighbors who fight development by screaming "traffic" aren't wrong that a solid majority of new residents will actually drive to and from work, maybe even to the nearest grocery store. Hell, ultra-dense neighborhoods in places like Vancouver or Munich or whatever with full metro access still barely crack 50% walk/bike/transit mode shares (yes, I'm aware of the wonderful Seattle story of adding so many people and jobs while car traffic has remained flat).

This point isn't to validate the traffic concerns, but to flip the script: even in a neighborhood with a population density of ~15,000/sqmi where 60-80% of residents still use their cars, IT WORKS. Yeah we have a nice grid of side streets to help defray traffic, but even still many of them are one-way rat mazes with diverters that seriously limit all real throughput to the arterials. Which are smaller than most arterials in the burbs. Literally any neighborhood in the metro could flip a switch and add that many people and still function as well as any dense-ish neighborhood in Minneapolis, even if they never added a single bus route. (yes, I am also aware arterials in the burbs have fewer lights with longer cycles and that monkeys with things, but even under that assumption since when has a suburb reeeeally had a problem widening a road or adding some more traffic lights/roundabouts??).

And so, we should be cautious tying zoning to transit. Not only because it may make transit investments carry baggage and see more resistance, but it also lets many places off the hook who could easily handle a few duplexes or even a 4-story apartment with no problem.

Anondson
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby Anondson » February 21st, 2018, 8:27 pm

Great comment by professor emeritus Adams.

https://www.minnpost.com/politics-polic ... ent-277860

mplsjaromir
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby mplsjaromir » April 17th, 2018, 4:20 pm

Interesting article by Kate from McMansion Hell

Architecture, Aesthetic Moralism, and the Crisis of Urban Housing:

http://commonedge.org/architecture-aest ... n-housing/

Bob Stinson's Ghost
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby Bob Stinson's Ghost » April 18th, 2018, 3:54 pm

Interesting article by Kate from McMansion Hell

Architecture, Aesthetic Moralism, and the Crisis of Urban Housing:

http://commonedge.org/architecture-aest ... n-housing/
What I took away from this article is that new buildings look so similar because of municipal design guidelines and the design review process.

Multimodal
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby Multimodal » April 18th, 2018, 10:17 pm

Interesting article by Kate from McMansion Hell

Architecture, Aesthetic Moralism, and the Crisis of Urban Housing:

http://commonedge.org/architecture-aest ... n-housing/
What I took away from this article is that new buildings look so similar because of municipal design guidelines and the design review process.
My impression from reading it is that fast-casual, developer-chic buildings are simply cheap.

Anondson
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby Anondson » April 23rd, 2018, 1:44 pm

Home ownership has become a gerontopoly, a wealth transfer making older richer, and younger poorer.

http://cityobservatory.org/gerontopoly- ... h-and-age/

Anondson
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby Anondson » April 25th, 2018, 8:13 pm

The single family home faces an uncertain future.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/201 ... 514655002/

Anondson
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby Anondson » May 15th, 2018, 7:26 pm

Wall Street investors might get in on house flipping.

https://slate.com/business/2018/05/wall ... worry.html

What could go wrong?

Korh
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby Korh » May 25th, 2018, 6:08 pm

interesting video on some of the economic/engineering aspects of housing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6XlcarjqAw&t

Anondson
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby Anondson » July 1st, 2018, 1:15 pm

Lee Schafer in the Strib writes on the Minneapolis Fed’s research initiatives on regulations that have caused affordable housing to become unnecessarily expensive and also pushed affordable options from qualifying for federal backed financing.

http://www.startribune.com/schafer-mark ... 486975421/

Anondson
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby Anondson » August 25th, 2018, 4:21 pm

The mortgage interest tax deduction changes are already making expensive neighborhoods cheaper.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ome-prices

Anondson
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby Anondson » September 15th, 2018, 7:15 pm

Interesting look at whether a home or stocks were a better investment. Stocks come out a slight winner, but timing matters more, and different housing markets change how much stocks were better.

Does anyone who is good with charts, and access to historical housing prices in the various housing markets in Minnesota care to try and write a post like this but with Minnesota housing markets instead of the ones used here?

https://www.businessinsider.com/real-es ... ent-2018-9

BoredAgain
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Re: Housing Market/Economics - General Topics

Postby BoredAgain » September 16th, 2018, 11:48 am

Interesting look at whether a home or stocks were a better investment. Stocks come out a slight winner, but timing matters more, and different housing markets change how much stocks were better.

Does anyone who is good with charts, and access to historical housing prices in the various housing markets in Minnesota care to try and write a post like this but with Minnesota housing markets instead of the ones used here?

https://www.businessinsider.com/real-es ... ent-2018-9
That would have been a more interesting comparison if people bought houses and then left them empty and simply used it as an investment instead of either living there and thus fulfilling a necessary requirement, or renting it out for a continuous income stream.


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