Re:Average Rent in San Francisco Has Dropped $1k This Year
by dehrmann on Monday December 28, 2020 @12:31PM
(#25561090)
> More apartments built will not help make housing more affordable for normal people.
Pre-covid, I knew engineers making $100k+ living with four roommates in a somewhat run-down apartment. Sure, $100k isn't that much, but it's enough that they should be living somewhere nicer without the roommates. People who should be in high-end apartments are living in low-end apartments, displacing "normal" people who would normally live there. If you build only mid-high-end apartments, the priced will come down to the point that the average tech worker can afford them, and they'll move out of their four roommate situation. That will free up inventory at the lower end, and prices will drop.
This really is just supply and demand. It does funny things at times (see the backward bending supply curve of labor), but until there's a surplus of housing, this isn't one of them.
Pre-covid, I knew engineers making $100k+ living with four roommates in a somewhat run-down apartment. Sure, $100k isn't that much, but it's enough that they should be living somewhere nicer without the roommates. People who should be in high-end apartments are living in low-end apartments, displacing "normal" people who would normally live there. If you build only mid-high-end apartments, the priced will come down to the point that the average tech worker can afford them, and they'll move out of their four roommate situation. That will free up inventory at the lower end, and prices will drop.
This really is just supply and demand. It does funny things at times (see the backward bending supply curve of labor), but until there's a surplus of housing, this isn't one of them.