Tag: realestate

evil Homeowner subsidies

this is really dumb economic policy, and is the cause for the inefficient over-investment in housing:

Less developed countries have consistently higher levels of homeownership, while more advanced nations combine higher levels of economic development with substantially lower levels of homeownership. The US spends $46b on affordable housing, but $195b-$600b in subsidies to wealthy and middle class homeowners via tax deductions for mortgage interest or the non-taxation of imputed rent

the absurd housing fetish continues

I’m not sure I understand the proposal, but here is what the NYT says: The Senate voted to expand the economic stimulus package with a tax credit for homebuyers of up to $15k, a provision championed by Republicans as addressing a root cause of the recession. Like Arnold Kling, I wish to shift the economy out of housing, not into it again. I also believe that the supply of homes is relatively elastic right now. The tax credit will subsidize the new buyers without propping up the price of homes. Demand will go up, supply will go up, price will stay more or less on the same trajectory, and banks won’t be any healthier. The subsidy goes to new home buyers and why should we be helping them above all others?

Model home renters

real estate is such a dumb industry. This is straight out of Arrested Development

All surfaces must be regularly cleaned; weeds eradicated, car oil spots removed. Clothes in closets are to be organized by color, and contestable items — heavily religious books, personal photos — must be removed or neutralized. Every item has a rule, and everything must be exact, the rotation of pillows, the fold of towels, the positioning of toothbrushes. Even the stacks of novels casually left on the bookshelf are placed and angled with pinpoint detail.

SF upgraded to Manhattan

turns out you can preserve the suburbia character of sf while also making it affordable. or you can turn it into tokyo, which would be a big improvement.

1 ultra-dense option, at 100K people per km2, included high-rises like you might see in Hong Kong or New York. But it turns out it’s possible to reach Manhattan-level densities with lower buildings that match the city’s existing character. “When we realized that you could actually house 40K people per km2, we wanted to show that” With some additional 6-story buildings in a neighborhood, suddenly it would be possible to accommodate the number of people who want to live in the city.

Real Estate lowers GDP

Less developed countries have consistently higher levels of homeownership, while more advanced nations combine higher levels of economic development with substantially lower levels of homeownership.

the reason for this is that real estate is very poor asset allocation: it takes investment away from productive things like lending money to companies, and it makes the workforce unable to go where the jobs are.

Declining ownership fetish

in related news, we have also passed peak boring lifestyle.

America’s homeownership rate has been declining for several years, and for multiple reasons, some tied directly to the housing collapse. For one class of would-be homeowners, it’s simply harder today to qualify for a mortgage than it was at the height of the housing boom. For another, the allure of homeownership itself has declined. And then of course there are people who were homeowners until the crash nudged them off of their property.

Ticket to nowhere

“No I don’t buy a ticket every night. I buy a ticket one time, as long as it’s not punched it’s good. As long as it doesn’t have a hole in it. I done had this for 2 months.” If you never get on a train to get your ticket punched, your ticket will never expire. Some of the homeless people at Newark Penn Station have been there for years. One has been at the station for 19 years; another for 26 years.

clever hack

Mall Death

excellent. strip malls are some of the worst man-made features on the planet and the more bulldozing, the better.

we’re seeing clear signs that the e-commerce revolution is seriously impacting commercial real estate. Online retailers are relentlessly gaining share in many retail categories, and offline players are fighting for progressively smaller pieces of the retail pie. A number of physical retailers have already succumbed to online competition including Circuit City, Borders, CompUSA, Tower Records and Blockbuster, and many others are showing signs of serious economic distress.