Re:Software was eating the world – now landlords are eating ...
by closeparen on Saturday August 24, 2019 @01:25AM
(#20785411)
San Francisco's desirability is not skyrocketing the way its property values are. The views and weather were there in 2011 too, when things were at half their current level. And of course making it cheaper means making it accessible to more people; that's the point.
Re:Software was eating the world – now landlords are eating ...
by nf8nnfufuu on Saturday August 24, 2019 @02:55AM
(#20785695)
If desirability is not skyrocketing, why are people prepared to pay the property prices?
It is not views and weather, it is access to the startup environment, venture capital, tech talent and so on.
Re:Software was eating the world – now landlords are eating ...
by rficcaglia on Saturday August 24, 2019 @09:12AM
(#20786935)
And some speculation. I see first hand a lot of high end apartments bought that sit vacant. Maybe the owners live in Asia or EU 9 months of the year, I dunno. But in some of the swanky towers downtown there are entire floors with at most one owner present year round.
Re:Software was eating the world – now landlords are eating ...
by nf8nnfufuu on Saturday August 24, 2019 @02:22PM
(#20788776)
In a normal market, I suppose speculation would help increase supply - by driving prices up, it would become more attractive to build. Of course if no building is possible, that won't work.
Nevertheless, there has to be a ceiling to the prices. If no space for living is available, eventually the tech companies won't be able to grow further because they can't hire more people.
Rent costs are complicated. A big part of the reason that SF housing is so expensive is that it is so desirable to live and work there. Companies want to be there because that is where the talent and capital is, and talent wants to be there because that is where companies and capital is, and capital wants to be there because that is where the companies and talent are. High cost is what keeps some companies/talent/capital away DESPITE the benefits of being in the area... but if we lower real property costs, MORE companies/talent/capital will want to be there and the cost saving won't persist. There is latent demand ready to fill up any extra housing you build.
There have also been studies that ask this same question, and they have found that opening up housing development in high rent areas just means developers build more luxury living places, and costs don't go down.
https://www.citylab.com/equity/2019/05/housing-supply-home-p...