America, take note: New Zealand has figured out a simple way to bring down home prices

[applegrove]

America, take note: New Zealand has figured out a simple way to bring down home prices

Tyler Le/Insider

Eliza Relman
Aug 7, 2023, 5:28 AM GMT-4

https://www.businessinsider.com/america-lower-rents-home-prices-build-more-houses-new-zealand-2023-8?_gl=1*3pkz6*_ga*Njg2MTk1ODQxLjE2OTA0MzczNjQ.*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTY5MTQ1NTg2Ni44LjEuMTY5MTQ1NjgxNy42MC4wLjA.

"SNIP.........

Imagine a bustling neighborhood with a mix of single-family homes, triplexes, apartment buildings, businesses, and public amenities. Rent growth is slow, home prices are reasonable, and there are plenty of affordable-housing options. Families, young people, retired folks, and businesses are all able to coexist, making the area diverse and vibrant.

Unfortunately, most American neighborhoods don't look like this. Instead, huge parts of the country have zoning laws that make it illegal to build anything other than a single-unit home. But these laws — originally designed to keep residential neighborhoods separate from manufacturing and to segregate and exclude people based on race — are running up against a harsh reality. American cities, especially those with growing job markets and a healthy influx of new residents, need to build millions of new homes to keep housing from becoming unaffordable. And keeping single-family-only zoning laws in place makes it almost impossible to meet these areas' housing needs.

To make housing more abundant and affordable, economists and urban planners say, we need to upzone many neighborhoods — legalize the construction of denser, taller housing like duplexes, triplexes, and townhomes. Upzoning won't cause the price of existing housing to suddenly tumble, but it will slow the growth of housing costs by meeting demand. It's a necessary, but not sufficient first step in solving the affordability crisis.

"There's an enormous amount of economics literature going back decades that shows us that places that have restrictive zoning build less housing over time, and that making zoning more restrictive reduces supply and increases prices," Jenny Schuetz, an expert on urban economics and housing policy at the Brookings Institute, told me. "There's essentially a unanimous consensus among economists and policy analysts that this is the direction we have to go."

........SNIP"

[applegrove]

1. There is a housing crisis in Canada.

[Bev54]

2. Calgary does a mixture in their new neighbourhoods, except for rental units that they need

to do better on. Most have single family, duplex, condo units along with a business section and often man made lakes for residence's use only. If they would do rental units as well, it would be much better, however the average home price is much lower than other Canadian cities.

[applegrove]

3. Mixed market housing is the way to go.

[mitch96]

4. This is what we have where I live in West Central Florida.

I live in a townhome community. We also have a few three story condo units. We are right in the middle of single family home community. It all works.
The only problem is the population density.
Lots of people, lots of traffic. It would be great if we had better mass transit. Not enough busses and no train system to speak of.
m

[applegrove]

5. Makes for more vibrant communities too. Better schools for all.

Lower crime. Easier to afford a home. All good things unless you are an architect of GOP policy.

[mitch96]

9. Despite the population density it is a very safe and vibrant community. Lots of stuff going on

the weekends. Down town is three miles from me and after that everything is within walking distance. If you are willing to drive there is lots of local but not walking distance things to do and see. Boating/fishing/golf? Beaches are a short drive.
It all works and it's inexpensive living down here. The State gov't sucks along with the gov'nr
YMMV
m

[DonCoquixote]

6. and this is the key phrase

Families, young people, retired folks, and businesses are all able to coexist, making the area diverse and vibrant.

America hates that very idea

[applegrove]

7. Republicans do hate it. They hate anything like social harmony that

keep them from power. Republicans have gone the opposite of mixed market housing into gated communities.

[Fiendish Thingy]

8. This is a seriously flawed theory, especially in Canada

Where the government insures most of the mortgages against default, rather than lenders assuming the risk.

If the zoning allows building higher density condos and townhomes, the market will just increase the prices of condos and townhomes to meet the lower/entry level end of the market, instead of that share of the market going to smaller single family dwellings.

Higher density housing for sale rather than rent, just increases the profits of developers per acre of land.

Higher density housing outside of downtown cores reduces space for gardens, parks, yards to play in and increases traffic and demands on infrastructure such as water and sewer systems.

Affordability becomes redefined as buyers being able to qualify for enough debt to buy a condo at market prices, rather than using government regulations, and the removal of government subsidies and supports to force housing prices lower so that median prices are in sync with median incomes.

Instead, I favour strategically planned “urban sprawl” to create traditional family neighborhoods of single family dwellings, with condos and townhomes limited to the downtown core for homebuyers that want a more “walkable” lifestyle. Public transit corridors from downtown cores to the suburbs should be filled in mostly with rental housing/apartments. The more rental housing available, the more competition for tenants, which should keep rent prices lower.