Ive heard repeatedly when trying to learn about our housing situation that we don’t have enough homes. I don’t understand how that’s the case or if it’s even true. Who or what is stopping more homes from being built exactly? If the demand is so high and the supply is so low then the suppliers would obviously ramp up production, right?
In: Economics
Some things that are stopping new housing from being built in America are parking requirements, zoning policies, lack of transportation and infrastructure. Many places have laws in place which say if you build a new apartment complex, for instance, you need a minimum number of parking spaces, and that means having to buy more land or there simply being not enough land available, so the developer may decide to build less units but have the prices be higher. Cities also have very restrictive zoning laws which make building multi-family housing in certain areas illegal. So cities can’t really expand because they run into suburbs that have to remain single-family homes. And there’s only so far away from a city that you can live if you need to work there. Without public transit the vast majority of people rely on personal vehicles to navigate cities which require roads and highways. And highways are a very inefficient use of land. Not to mention people need somewhere to have their car parked while they’re in the city which is also an inefficient use of land.
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