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Re:Small cities in America’s Mountain West are booming by prostoalex on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @11:57AM (#26876394)
Any small town has two problems:

* influx of tourism and remote owners -> rising prices

* lack of tourism or property interest -> slow death

I am not sure what would be the right public policy to balance the two extremes.

Maybe Hawaii has the right idea with tiered property taxation - the longer you reside there, the lower your property tax becomes?

Re:Small cities in America’s Mountain West are booming by diveandfight on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @04:37PM (#26881283)
Tiered property taxation hasn't solved the the problems OP has described for Oahu; or Hawaii as a whole for that matter.

For example, Local NIMBYist restrictions, mostly those individuals that have resided there for a long time (and have the lower property tax rate you describe), have resulted in areas immediately adjacent to 40-story downtown developments being zoned exclusively for single-family homes; see Kaimuki, Upper Tantalus, Manoa, Punchbowl (to an extent), etc. Consequently, even homes built over 80 yrs ago with only ~1,300 sqft sell for about $1.1 million; https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1001-Belser-St-Honolulu-H....

The majority of people employed in hospitality and trades that support the local tourist economy (electricians, masons, carpenters, etc.) are increasingly driven to the west side; where commutes to the city can easily be 1-2 hours normally (pre-COVID). This eventually becomes such a stressor that many of the people working these skilled trades leave for the mainland.

Re:Small cities in America’s Mountain West are booming by asdff on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @01:54PM (#26878114)
Prices shouldn't rise if you are allowed to build enough supply to meet demand. A lack of property interest isn't necessarily a bad thing for a place. Land isn't for speculation, it's for use.