Re:Despite money and effort, homelessness in SF as bad as ever
by Mz on Tuesday June 27, 2017 @10:39PM
(#14651333)
In addition to being larger, houses today are more lavish. In the 1950s, houses were around 1200 square feet, they had a kitchen and a bathroom but did not necessarily have a washer and dryer or air conditioner. They certainly did not have a microwave and probably did not have a dishwasher. They tended to have less insulation, less electrical wiring, etc.
Yes, there is data on such things. There are a number of reasons that housing has gone up in cost, but size inflation is absolutely a contributing factor.
Re:Despite money and effort, homelessness in SF as bad as ever
by closeparen on Tuesday June 27, 2017 @10:50PM
(#14651364)
The appliances you're describing are a few hundred to a few thousand dollars each. Maybe we could expect the full package to contribute $30k, or even $50k, of increased costs.
This could explain a jump from $200k to $250k. Not from $50k to $200k.
I've read this many times, bigger houses have contributed a great deal to rising housing costs. But do we have any data on the cost of materials and labor now vs. then as well as the cost of land and regulations now vs. then?
I've always had an inkling that materials/labor costs haven't actually risen that much even as houses grew larger.