Re:Empty storefronts are killing neighbourhoods
by dukeyukey on Saturday July 24, 2021 @11:38AM
(#27941806)
> Why not just let the market take care of it?
Because land is an awful example of a free-market commodity. It's not like you can set up a land factory to drive prices down (outside the Netherlands and Singapore I suppose...), and it's something everyone needs to live an even vaguely decent life.
And even worse, someone who owns land doesn't need to do a damn thing to make it increase in price; it's the businesses and people living around it that do that. So money sitting in real-estate is far less useful to society than money invested into productive businesses.
Because land is an awful example of a free-market commodity. It's not like you can set up a land factory to drive prices down (outside the Netherlands and Singapore I suppose...), and it's something everyone needs to live an even vaguely decent life.
And even worse, someone who owns land doesn't need to do a damn thing to make it increase in price; it's the businesses and people living around it that do that. So money sitting in real-estate is far less useful to society than money invested into productive businesses.