Land costs are a sunk cost as I said. If it's too expensive to build skyscrapers then it will make sense to build midrise. If it's not too expensive to build skyscrapers then it will make sense to build skyscrapers. There's no scenario where "it's upzoned so we'd better leave it empty instead of building midrise" makes any kind of sense.

Since when are land costs 'sunk costs'? Do you imagine land owners can't sell their land to a higher bidder? I'm talking about Canada and the U.S. here, not about countries which prohibits private land sales without prior government approval.

If you paid high pre-recession prices for land whose value has now dropped, that money is sunk; refusing to build a moderate-price building (appropriate to the land's current value) on the land because the land is "too expensive" (in terms of the price you originally paid) is cutting your nose off to spite your face.

Huh? Land value has at least doubled everywhere I know of in the U.S and Canada since 2009.

In which municipality has land value declined since 2009?

And even if so, why does that mean they are forced to build anything? They can just keep it vacant and pay a much lower property tax, some folks just don't want to go through hassles even if it's somewhat less efficient.

If land value hasn't declined then what on earth would be the logic of leaving it vacant? If you're not doing anything with it then just sell it. I don't even get what you're arguing at this point.

Some people want to own bare land? You were the one who brought up the issue of vacancy.

> In that case land acquisition costs make it too pricy since attractive downtown plots in a big city like Toronto are easily hundreds of millions per acre. Because they are zoned for 40+ story buildings. And why would any land owner seek to zone for less than the maximal allowance?

> If you mean forced downgrading of the zoning or replacing existing suburbia with mid density developments, or subsidizing mid density as opposed to suburbia, that’s an entirely political conversation since the roadblock is zoning laws and the legislature.

You appeared to be claiming that land will be left vacant in the absence of political changes (with the frankly bizarre suggestion that land needs to be downzoned to encouraged more building). If that wasn't what you were claiming then what were you claiming?

You need to understand the fact that many are willing to own bare land and put it to its less than theoretically optimal usage. In fact they will fight against attempts to develop it.

It's called land banking if you haven't heard of it before.

I'm not sure how any of your comment follows.