U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than income

Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by jacobolus on Saturday October 30, 2021 @02:59AM (#29046645)

SF board of supervisors just voted unanimously against turning an old barely used church into 300 small shared-kitchen studio apartments, because it’s not “family friendly” enough. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/S-F-supes-say-no... (This will of course instead force 300 people who would live in those to awkwardly pair up and live as unrelated roommates in 150 scattered 2-bedroom flats, taking them off the market and contributing to high rents throughout the Bay Area.)

The board also just voted against turning a parking lot into a 500-unit apartment building, citing the recent Florida condo collapse as justification, and worrying that it will “gentrify” the corner of 6th and Market (!). https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/State-investigating-S...

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by biztos on Saturday October 30, 2021 @06:09AM (#29047527)

For those unfamiliar with San Francisco: 6th and Market is a very bad neighborhood, and the idea of "gentrifying" it on any timeline you will live to see the end of, is laughable.

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by jhgb on Saturday October 30, 2021 @06:36AM (#29047670)

Why is it even a bad idea? I would have thought that if it's a "very bad neigborhood", as you say, improving it is desirable.

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by jlokier on Saturday October 30, 2021 @08:07AM (#29048145)

Improving a "very bad neighbourhood" in the sense of "poor person's neighbourhood" tends to be undesirable for the people who are priced out as a result. Owners will do ok financially, but rents will rise, forcing many to leave the place they are settled in, may have grown up in, and often where their extended family lives.

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by jhgb on Saturday October 30, 2021 @08:27AM (#29048243)

If the alternative is to keep it a "very bad neighbourhood", I don't see how how the situation is not at least even. (Unless "very bad neighborhood" was an exaggeration. "Poor person's neighbourhood" certainly wasn't what I imagined, but I live in a place where most "poor person's neighbourhoods" are pretty good...just poor, that's all).

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by biztos on Saturday October 30, 2021 @01:20PM (#29050474)

Yes, I am in favor of improving it. It's just that if we're talking about 6th and Market, getting it anywhere close to what we think of as "gentrified" is a long, long game, especially in San Francisco. It's a legendary corner.

But as others pointed out, the spot in question might not actually be right there, I was just commenting on the area mentioned by the parent, to add context for the non-SF people.

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by jeffbee on Saturday October 30, 2021 @10:14AM (#29048929)

Uh, while many places in SF are indeed bad, the “sensitive” place the BoS claims to be protecting - Mint Plaza - is surrounded by apartments that already rent for $5500-$6500 per month.

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by biztos on Saturday October 30, 2021 @01:24PM (#29050516)

In that case, it's even weirder -- for further context, Mint Plaza is at 5th and (more or less) Market, and there is a huge difference between 6th Street and 5th Street.

Ah, SF, sometimes I even miss it. :-)

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by SilasX on Saturday October 30, 2021 @01:50PM (#29050807)

Yes! The sharpest neighborhood difference I've ever seen is between 5th and Howard (Intercontinental Hotel, Pivotal, tech offices) vs 6th and Howard (reallllly sketchy area). (Howard is one block south of Mint and two blocks south of Market St.)

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by biztos on Saturday October 30, 2021 @07:59PM (#29053282)

I used to work at 5th and Howard back when Tempest was an anarcho-syndicalist bike-messenger journalists' coke den.

We never exited towards 6th even then.

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by arcticbull on Sunday October 31, 2021 @12:31AM (#29054503)

I did too! We went for lunch weekly :) Tempest has great food out of the Box kitchen, and they seat you inside at lunch during the week.

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by jeffbee on Saturday October 30, 2021 @02:10PM (#29050963)

Yeah the project was to have been on Stevenson between 5th and 6th. At the closest point this lot is less than 100 meters from Mint Plaza.

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by darawk on Saturday October 30, 2021 @04:26AM (#29047070)

Imagine what has to be going on in your mind that you believe turning non-housing into housing will gentrify something.

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by pmorici on Saturday October 30, 2021 @05:41AM (#29047392)

They can’t possibly believe this stuff. They have a financial interest in keeping prices high. That is the simplest explanation.

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by noduerme on Saturday October 30, 2021 @04:31AM (#29047091)

Asking as someone who lived there until the first dot com crash: Does anyone actually need to live in San Francisco anymore?

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by eloisant on Saturday October 30, 2021 @03:34PM (#29051671)

I'd say since the pandemic not really I guess, most companies accept remote, however since 10 years or so SF really became the center of the Silicon Valley (while it was more south bay/peninsula before).

It's going to take some time until tech workers stop flocking to SF and price become less ridiculous, if ever. I don't see it dropping below other world big cities like NYC however.

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by novok on Saturday October 30, 2021 @01:35PM (#29050641)

Lets get more meta, does anyone ever need to live anywhere in particular /s

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by eloisant on Saturday October 30, 2021 @03:35PM (#29051680)

Well, it might not be true for the tech workers roaming HN, but there are still people who are forced to live in a big city to get a job!

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Re:U.S. house prices are rising exponentially faster than in... by sitkack on Monday November 01, 2021 @11:06PM (#29076455)

No alarm intended, but does anyone need to live anyway? Once you understand that simply perceiving reality is the most wondrous thing we can do, simply being present in the universe is enough.

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