https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/new-home-construction-jumps-raising-hopes-better-housing-market-rcna130451
Census Bureau data for showed the pace of starting new homes ramped up more than expected in November.
Is the problem actually lack of homes, or is it just astronomical prices blocking people out? So hard to buy a house when you need to pay at least 25k over asking and some rental company is also bidding on the house, paying full cash, and waiving inspections and appraisals.
The problem is actually institutional landlords buying every home they could get. That drove up prices to the highest points their algorithms determined each market could handle. They're the ones outbidding everyone paying in cash. They're sitting on the sidelines now securing deals with Wallstreet for hundreds of billions of dollars to get back in the action as soon as they think prices are at a good price again, just to drive all the prices right back up.
The derivatives market is larger by multiple orders of magnitude than the actual world economy. Wall Street can print itself as much money as it wants. They can totally buy as many homes as they want to, leveraging their current assets to infinity.
Is the problem actually lack of homes
The problem is actual lack of homes where the housing demand is, because of zoning codes restricting density. There are plenty of single-family houses in the exurbs, but not nearly enough du-/tri-/quad-plexes and rowhouses just outside of downtowns.
Hopefully they're built in places that actually need them, and not out in the middle of nowhere.
Fr you never see ranch houses being built anymore, they're all luxury townhouses or multi story mcmansions or generic suburb homes that trade good design for maximum sq ft.
I just want a small house with a decent yard... $500k easy around where I live. The affordable ones are bought above asking price and demolished to build two-flats or luxury homes.
Man I'm in the same boat. I bought a short sale condo during the housing collapse and I'm selling it now to buy a house....150k for a down payment and I can't find SHIT I can afford.
I want a 2-3 bedroom house with enough room for a workshop (meaning a basement or 2-car garage) and ANY sized yard. The only ones I can find within an hour radius are 100k too expensive or need 100k in work.
Fr you never see ranch houses being built anymore
I just want a small house with a decent yard
That's because what you want doesn't make economic sense to produce. You could make it work economically* to have a small house on a small lot, but if you're forcing developers to build only a single house on a large lot (and that's exactly what the zoning code does), then it's going to be a big one in order for the developer to make the profit margin he needs.
(* I initially wrote "you could have," but changed it because you actually can't have that. Not because the economics wouldn't work, but because the zoning code often just prohibits the "small house on small lot" market segment outright.)
Edit: quit downvoting facts, NIMBYs. Why is it so threatening to you for me to accurately identify the problem?
Well maybe we shouldn't turn something people need to survive into a game of min/max P&L. I know construction and real estate companies need a profit to survive, but unchecked profit maximizing is bad for everyone but shareholders.
Why build a ranch when you can build a 2flat or multi family unit that takes up the entire lot, that only corporations can scoop up as an investment, or already wealthy individuals can buy outright and rent it out to squeeze any potential profit out of the working class that's struggling to survive. That's why there's so few affordable single family homes being built, and if you don't see that as a problem right now then I don't know what to tell ya.
Why build a ranch when you can build a 2flat or multi family unit that takes up the entire lot
Because MULTIFAMILY IS LITERALLY PROHIBITED BY LAW. How many times do I have to say it?!
I realize that it's cool on Lemmy to hate the capitalists and all that (and I don't even disagree!), but in this case it's the racists and NIMBYs and car-brains that y'all really have beef with. The developers are just working within the system that those groups insisted upon creating.
Edit: silent downvoters are too cowardly to respond to defend their position.
You're not wrong, but developers have a lot of pull in local government and their influence on those policies shouldn't be overlooked. They're also pushing for single-family zoning because the profit margins on those are higher than on multi-family.
As someone very involved in local politics, it's been my experience that the NIMBYs have way more influence than the developers.
Also, the "profit margins are higher on single-family than multi-family" is a result of the zoning, not a reason for it. If zoning were reformed to be sane, profit margins on multifamily would be higher (in part, for example, because land zoned for multifamily wouldn't be artificially inflated in price due to extreme scarcity).
The worst part where I live(Ontario, Canada), they aren't even high end, they are just insanely expensive. An absolute pile of shit mass-built subdivision home where I live starts at about $500k. Houses where they cut every single corner possible and only hire trade workers under the table or minimum wage. Houses where they pay off inspectors to be able to build without following codes. Houses where they rush every single worker because they are building them as fast as possible. It's a fucking joke.