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A comment on Why Barcelona Bought the Building That Symbolizes Its Housing Crisis. Parent comment

Re:Why Barcelona Bought the Building That Symbolizes Its Hou... by AnthonyMouse on Saturday February 22, 2025 @01:49PM (#43141820)
The construction will focus on whatever is in demand. Moreover, expensive luxury units often make more family units available, because then the new occupants of those luxury units vacate the existing family units they'd have otherwise occupied.
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Re:Why Barcelona Bought the Building That Symbolizes Its Hou... by thfuran on Saturday February 22, 2025 @02:24PM (#43142196)
No, it'll focus on whatever's expected to be most profitable, which is not necessarily the same thing.
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Re:Why Barcelona Bought the Building That Symbolizes Its Hou... by AnthonyMouse on Sunday February 23, 2025 @02:14AM (#43147382)
The price they can sell the unit for is determined by demand. Profit is then the difference between that and their costs. But selling units with lower demand would then only be more profitable if those units also had lower construction costs. Which isn't really consistent with the practice of making luxury units.
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Re:Why Barcelona Bought the Building That Symbolizes Its Hou... by BrenBarn on Saturday February 22, 2025 @02:32PM (#43142296)
Unless they keep those vacated units to rent them out on AirBnB.
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Re:Why Barcelona Bought the Building That Symbolizes Its Hou... by epistasis on Saturday February 22, 2025 @02:59PM (#43142582)
If you didn't build those units, they would be taking existing units for that rather than the new units, right?
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Re:Why Barcelona Bought the Building That Symbolizes Its Hou... by AnthonyMouse on Sunday February 23, 2025 @02:07AM (#43147345)
And if they use those units for that then the demand for new units from people who want to live in them will still exist and it will continue to be profitable to build even more units.
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Re:Why Barcelona Bought the Building That Symbolizes Its Hou... by fodkodrasz on Sunday February 23, 2025 @03:12AM (#43147655)
No, at least not in the sense as what is in demand by the population, they focus on what is in demand by the investors. All new construction projects advertise themselves either as luxury or as investments. The fact that hosing is usable as investment is what has ruined the market, and the demographics of the west.
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