Discussion: Housing, Homelessness, Urban Development, Gentrification, and Other Housing Issues

[Lily Adler]

 

[Lily Adler]

 

[Lily Adler]

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

continued…

 

[squeekness]

Rotten!

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

continued…

Ars Technica - US senator [Brown D-OH] seeks antitrust review of apartment price-setting software

 

[antsman41]

...my favorite song of the year is a hardcore song about how we shouldn't have homelessness - check it out.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Senate Democrats Call for New Probe Into Allegations RealPage's Algorithm Suggests Inflated Rental Prices to Landlords
Senator Amy Klobuchar is concerned the software "essentially amounts to a cartel to artificially inflate rental rates in multifamily residential buildings."

 

[Lily Adler]

Senate Democrats Call for New Probe Into Allegations RealPage's Algorithm Suggests Inflated Rental Prices to Landlords
Senator Amy Klobuchar is concerned the software "essentially amounts to a cartel to artificially inflate rental rates in multifamily residential buildings."

Someone give her a binder to throw at them.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Texas Monthly - 2023 Bum Steer of the Year: Austin
How a funky little college town became the unbearable-traffic, unaffordable-real-estate, insufferable-tech-bro, inanely-precious-restaurant, expensive-BBQ capital of the world!

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

MarketWatch - For the first time in decades, the average renter spends 30% of their income on housing. The White House has unveiled a plan to help.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

CNBC - Home sales spike 14.5% in February as the median price drops for the first time in over a decade

Sales of previously owned homes rose 14.5% in February compared with January, according to a seasonally adjusted count by the National Association of Realtors. That put sales at an annualized rate of 4.58 million units. It was the first monthly gain in 12 months and the largest increase since July 2020, just after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Sales were, however, 22.6% lower than they were in February of last year.

These sales counts are based on closings, so the contracts were likely signed at the end of December and throughout January, when mortgage rates had fallen sharply. The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed loan hovered in the low 6% range throughout January after reaching a high of 7% last fall.

The relative drop caused a jump in sales of newly built homes, before rates jumped back toward 7% in February. They not stand at 6.67%, according to Mortgage News Daily. “Conscious of changing mortgage rates, home buyers are taking advantage of any rate declines,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors, in a release. “Moreover, we’re seeing stronger sales gains in areas where home prices are decreasing and the local economies are adding jobs.”

Higher mortgage rates have been cooling home prices since last summer, and for the first time in a record 131 consecutive months — nearly 11 years — prices were lower on a year-over-year comparison. The median price of an existing home sold in February was $363,000, a 0.2% decline from February 2022.

 

[squeekness]

They aren't going down that much. The lady behind us just sold a tiny house for stupid money-- 405K. Means I could get at least 450K for mine, I have twice the land. We paid 105K 30 years ago.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Business Insider - It took a progressive Virginia suburb 8 years to let developers build apartments instead of single-family houses. It shows how hard it is to build middle-class housing in the US.

• A growing number of communities are upzoning single-family neighborhoods to allow more housing options.
• Arlington, Virginia, is finally set to pass a "missing middle" housing policy after years of debate.
• The policy change is just the first step in creating much needed new housing.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Market Watch - No, you can’t get a 40-year mortgage. So why was that search trending on Google?

 

[squeekness]

Market Watch - No, you can’t get a 40-year mortgage. So why was that search trending on Google?

The housing prices around me have soared, how can you buy without a 40 year mortgage?

 

[Erzengel]

Biden to hike payments for good-credit homebuyers to subsidize high-risk mortgages

I was looking to refinance in the future........

 

[squeekness]

Biden to hike payments for good-credit homebuyers to subsidize high-risk mortgages

I was looking to refinance in the future........

Doesn't sound very fair.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Associate Press - In Arizona, fresh scrutiny of Saudi-owned farm's water use

Scripps News - Study: Americans think it's the worst time ever to buy a house

This is also why some states are banning mainland Chinese citizens and companies from buying up U.S. real estate though that's only a small portion of the market for now to make it look like they're doing something. Worse is when the Russian nationals were buying up properties in London for years.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

NY Times - Workers Continue to Get Priced Out of the Hamptons
Business owners and local leaders are scrambling to create housing for workers in low-wage jobs, but residents who are opposed to development say land must be preserved.

 

[squeekness]

We don't want no poor folks in our back yard! Shame on them.

 

[Erzengel]

In New Jersey, it's mandated that every municipality have affordable housing. Most people don't like the sound of it and think "affordable housing" equals some sort of slums. In actuality, if someone does construct like a 40 unit development, a percentage while visually similar is actually cheaper and sold to low income families, veterans etc. But, it's the rest of the development who probably have to pay more for those units to be sold at less than market value.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Scripps News - Index shows housing prices have actually dropped year-over-year
Starting in June 2022, there was a cooling of housing prices. Now, housing inflation seems to be at more normal levels.

Scripps News - Rent prices in major cities now cheaper than a year ago
Despite encouraging trends in many cities, the report mentions rental prices are still increasing in several U.S. cities.

 

[squeekness]

Scripps News - Index shows housing prices have actually dropped year-over-year
Starting in June 2022, there was a cooling of housing prices. Now, housing inflation seems to be at more normal levels.

Scripps News - Rent prices in major cities now cheaper than a year ago
Despite encouraging trends in many cities, the report mentions rental prices are still increasing in several U.S. cities.

The rents around me are crazy. If you don't have two paychecks, good luck.