Re:Austin's Surge of New Housing Construction Drove Down Rents
by modriano on Thursday March 19, 2026 @02:49AM
(#47435794)
The prices may be falling, but if you can still make more profit (per unit time) building in Austin than elsewhere (due to less red tape or more local builders or whatever), building will occur.
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Re:Austin's Surge of New Housing Construction Drove Down Rents
by estearum on Thursday March 19, 2026 @06:24PM
(#47447210)
No, it's absolutely possible that building as a whole is not a good use of capital. There is not some fixed quantity of people-who-must-build and dollars-that-must-be-spent-building.
If the incentive disappears, the people and dollars disappear. And they have to clear a much higher bar than merely being profitable. Because it's a capex heavy industry, development must compete against other ways to invest capital (like S&P 500 or the US 10-Year).