Re:Big landlords used software to collude on rent prices, DC...
by CommieBobDole on Thursday November 02, 2023 @11:48AM
(#38115205)
> The private homebuilding sector is not going to build at the rate required to improve supply, because excess supply will cut into their margins.
I don't know if this is correct since historically houses were built by a combination of smaller and larger developers who were unable to collude on production and pricing; there would be cycles of boom and bust where they would build a huge surplus of housing, the prices would crater, and a bunch of developers would go bankrupt.
At least, that's how it went in the '80s and '90s when I was homebuilding-industry-adjacent, maybe the whole thing is corporatized and financialized now to the point where there's basically a cartel that controls prices. If so, we should maybe investigate what incentives led to that.
I don't know if this is correct since historically houses were built by a combination of smaller and larger developers who were unable to collude on production and pricing; there would be cycles of boom and bust where they would build a huge surplus of housing, the prices would crater, and a bunch of developers would go bankrupt.
At least, that's how it went in the '80s and '90s when I was homebuilding-industry-adjacent, maybe the whole thing is corporatized and financialized now to the point where there's basically a cartel that controls prices. If so, we should maybe investigate what incentives led to that.