At some point they may have to pivot to multi-family;though, don’t you think? With farmland values being what they are, the answer can’t automatically be just keep expanding the metro and buy more farmland. Certainly that will still be happening, but perhaps at a slower pace (and not necessarily for first time homebuyers)?
Housing market
- Thread starter simply1
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Agreed. We do and will live in a multi-generation house while parents are around.
Another 4% drop in steel prices today. Available in 1-2 weeks. Trucking is the issue. Things are softening still.
Farmland price has very little impact on housing costs. Developers can and do pay far above farm value, and development costs (developers pay for the new streets, water mains, sewers, and a multitude of fees and off-site costs) along with soft costs like financing, are vastly greater percentages of overall costs than are the land costs.
"Green field" development is almost always cheaper than "brown field" development, ie redevelopment in an existing neighborhood, where there are demolition costs, possibly environmental conditions, and infrastructure issues. Plus existing homes will be valued less than new construction, which has a negative effect on appraisals for the new construction and affects feasibility.
UNLESS an existing residence can be "flipped" in a high value market, commonly in higher amenity metro locations where there aren't any green fields, OR density can be increased to offset the higher cost of the brown field location, OR there are public subsidies to reduce the redevelopment expenses.
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There is enough housing. What there isn't enough of is housing that will satisfy those who think they need 3,400+ square feet, 3 car garage, etc.
There's plenty of that housing. Not enough for people in the sub-300K price range.
There's definitely a housing shortage in the sweet-spot for the majority of buyers.
There's also an issue with people wanting 3400 SF and a pool on .75 acres but in all reality only needing 1900 SF and maybe .25 acres and using the community pool.
Nailed it.
Firm believer that people have every right to live in the type of home they want. But with all the attention about climate change these days, people tend to focus on how technology is going to resolve. When in fact there are ways to reduce our impact by simple choices like how big a house or car we drive.
Let's just define a home as one of those campers that has solar power and pulls water out of the air. No one needs 1900 sq ft
Are we talking 1900 per floor or that realtor crap where they combine the basement also?
I think he's kidding anyway. The damn listings used to have to count basements separate but they've mucked it up now.
I know.
As an appraiser it drove me nuts when I had to decipher that crap. It’s supposed to be above grade. The tricky part is if there is a walkout basement. Then you can count a room there.
Put solar panels (made in the USA) up a few years back and all electric in the house. Not really because of climate change, but because I hate paying the utility. If I got an electric vehicle I would throw more panels up to offset charge cost.
Every split level should be burned to the ground
That's half the housing in some areas. May be too strong.
I wish we had basements here. I could live in a smaller place with that extra space. I'd even take a split!
My uncle (my dads oldest brother) had a split level when he was around 70. He sold it after about 5 years because he said he got tired of coming home and having to choose, do I go up or down as first decision. He just wanted to walk in.
I think a lot of this is due to policy/lending changes in the mid-90’s that made it a lot easier to buy (good!) but also, if you didn’t have the income/equity, also made it a lot easier to buy (bad!). I don’t know who to credit, but I once heard someone say that, over the course of 10-15 years, we turned an entire generation of good renters into bad homeowners.
The issue is that we allowed too many investors to buy up the low end houses that then drove up the prices. Then you end up with rent payments double and triple what a mortgage payment would have been because there was no other option. Those high rent payments prevent people from saving to get that down payment.