• SCB@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I can recognize the reality of a good investment while disagreeing that it should be a good investment.

    People aren’t building because they are choosing not to. They’re not building because they literally can’t.

    • Ryantific_theory@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Probably would have been worth clarifying that distinction earlier, but I’m not attacking families looking to pay for a home to be built. Construction companies that build new homes en masse are doing so to make money, not to address the housing shortage.

      Much like Nissan being pleasantly surprised at making more money by discontinuing production of their cheaper models, larger construction companies aren’t at some sad loss to meet demand. they acquire building permits based on how many months of completed housing supply they have waiting to be purchased. When it passes a certain level, apparently 6 months of supply, they slow down completions and reduce the number of new permits until the supply is sold at the prices they want.

      Otherwise it would be less profitable. I’m not saying there aren’t other issues, and smaller home building outfits struggle with local permitting, keeping employees, and rising prices for materials and appliances. But a huge issue with the industry is that it’s fundamentally against their best interest to solve the housing shortage. There’s a happy little feedback loop between builders and investors that keeps pumping home prices up, which lets new ones be sold for more, which pumps home prices up. Which restricts more and more of the housing market to investors, until the dystopian future where everyone rents except for the lucky souls that inherit the family property.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It is not against anyone’s interest to build housing and you’re making a lot of frankly absurd claims here, specifically just to villainize people.

        Highly recommend you look up criticisms of SFH zoning policy