California should emulate Tokyo, where housing stayed ahead of population growth

Re:California should emulate Tokyo, where housing stayed ahe... by ajeet_dhaliwal on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @07:39PM (#16643546)

No one gets the message in London. There should be high rise condo/apartment buildings like Manhattan, Hong Kong, Singapore, even Toronto, all over the place given the population but height restrictions persist so people live in cramped, miserable conditions. There are vested interest that make allowing this politically challenging, existing owners would see property prices plummet if this was allowed, and then there's some powerful people just block it for aesthetic reasons. Either way it can't continue without having an economic and innovation hit long term.

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Re:California should emulate Tokyo, where housing stayed ahe... by MrAlex94 on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @09:57PM (#16644839)

I'm not convinced London has a housing shortage. Or the UK for that matter. The problem is that anyone can buy a house in the UK and they've become investment vehicles. Also consider London has just reached its pre-WW2 population, and all the properties bombed most likely replaced by more efficient housing.

I found a study about supply and demand for housing, but am struggling to find it. There's a post here which seems credible enough, related to the topic:

https://medium.com/@ian.mulheirn/londons-housing-non-shortag...

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Re:California should emulate Tokyo, where housing stayed ahe... by jonknee on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @10:57PM (#16645292)

> The problem is that anyone can buy a house in the UK and they've become investment vehicles.

Doesn't that imply that there is a shortage?

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Re:California should emulate Tokyo, where housing stayed ahe... by MrAlex94 on Thursday March 22, 2018 @08:41AM (#16648081)

If you're competing with the the whole world - sure. But I have a personal belief property is one of the things that shouldn't be so freely purchasable. Want to buy and own a property in the UK? Fine, be a UK citizen then.

Look at how Denmark do it:

"Unless you have lived in Denmark for a period of at least 5 years, you must obtain permission from the Danish Ministry of Justice (Justitsministeriet) to buy property. However, this restriction does not apply if you are an EU-citizen, and if the property is to be used as a permanent residence."

https://international.kk.dk/artikel/buying-home http://um.dk/en/travel-and-residence/family-and-legal-issues...

Seems reasonable to me. Maybe stop shell corporations based in tax havens from owning property as well? Seems they benefit from the income while paying that the government doesn't even get.

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Re:California should emulate Tokyo, where housing stayed ahe... by beguiledfoil on Thursday March 22, 2018 @02:12AM (#16646180)

>Doesn't that imply that there is a shortage?

A shortage of housing? A shortage of ways to launder money? A shortage of safe assets that beat inflation? A shortage of network connected land?

Emulate Tokyo is good advice, but not easy. There's a reason Tokyo is Tokyo and everywhere else looks nothing like Tokyo.

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Re:California should emulate Tokyo, where housing stayed ahe... by michaelt on Thursday March 22, 2018 @06:18AM (#16647321)

The claim I've often heard repeated [1] is that there are investors who leave their properties unoccupied rather than renting them out, satisfied to bank the returns from price appreciation without the hassle of tenants. So-called "buy-to-leave" properties. For example, one report found just 19 out of 80 apartments in an expensive development were occupied [2].

This has the pernicious effect that it undermines people's belief that increasing supply/housing density will lower prices. After all, why fight for something you don't think will benefit you?

Instead, people who believe such things prefer policies of government intervention, like social housing, taxes on empty properties and suchlike.

[1] https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXSUbv3X4AAO-dK.jpg [2] http://uk.businessinsider.com/property-partner-20000-ghost-h...

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Re:California should emulate Tokyo, where housing stayed ahe... by kfarr on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @11:42PM (#16645518)

Yeah there's kind of a "goes with the territory" thing with large cities with high demand -- they are investment vehicles because demand for housing is so high and growing relative to available supply.

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Re:California should emulate Tokyo, where housing stayed ahe... by flukus on Thursday March 22, 2018 @02:13AM (#16646185)

> Doesn't that imply that there is a shortage?

Initially it probably did, but once the ball get's rolling it just implies that there are people willing to buy. That can be other investors in a bubble.

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Re:California should emulate Tokyo, where housing stayed ahe... by useryournoggin on Thursday March 22, 2018 @07:55AM (#16647784)

comparing aggregate rates of household formation vs housebuilding doesn't tell you very much as household formation is dependent on housing supply.

in the absence of supply constraints, if the price goes up this creates an incentive to build more houses, which will balance out any increased demand. there is also good research that shows supply constraints do matter in the UK - http://personal.lse.ac.uk/hilber/hilber_wp/Hilber_Vermeulen_...

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Re:California should emulate Tokyo, where housing stayed ahe... by Spooky23 on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @10:45PM (#16645218)

London is a money laundering market, not a housing market.

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Re:California should emulate Tokyo, where housing stayed ahe... by buf on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @08:49PM (#16644308)

New skyscrapers are going up all the time in London.

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Re:California should emulate Tokyo, where housing stayed ahe... by rurounijones on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @09:58PM (#16644852)

Only business though no? OPs point is that there are no / not enough residential high-rises being built.

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Re:California should emulate Tokyo, where housing stayed ahe... by sievebrain on Thursday March 22, 2018 @01:58AM (#16646119)

No, some are residential. I know someone who just moved in to the new skyscraper by Battersea power station

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Re:California should emulate Tokyo, where housing stayed ahe... by ajeet_dhaliwal on Thursday March 22, 2018 @05:32AM (#16647122)

The Battersea / Nine Elms area has seen development over several years from when the American embassy announced they would be moving there, new tube stops are coming too but it’s just one targetted area only and the prices are totally crazy for anyone who is an ‘employee’ of any sort. Got your own multi million dollar business going? Then it’s no problem.

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Re:California should emulate Tokyo, where housing stayed ahe... by user5994461 on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @08:48PM (#16644296)

I'm not sure what you mean. There are quite a few skyscrapers in London. They are all new luxury properties and doesn't drop the price of anything.

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