Quote:
Originally Posted by adtobias
is it very hard to build a highrise condo downtown in the price range of 200 to 300 thousand for a 2 or 3 bedroom
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Yes, with the current cost of construction it's pretty much impossible. Just to build a highrise of concrete and steel and glass costs at least $300 to $400per sq ft. The cost of steel doubled from June 2003 to April 2005 and steel continues to increase in cost about 10-15% per year:
http://www.concretemonthly.com/newsflash/art.php?701
Here's one recent article where the writer tried to research the exact increases of both steel and cement over the past few years:
http://voiceofsandiego.org/articles/...lice071107.txt.
Add to that the increase in the cost of transporting all other building and finish materials and you can understand why construction costs are so high and why they continue to increase.
Cost of construction is the main reason why the asking prices of downtown high rise condo residences are much higher than similarly sized single family homes made of stick and brick. There are other factors that come into play, but basically we will not see any 2 or 3 bedroom condos in new construction highrises going for $200k to $300k in any downtown area unless construction costs decrease for some reason.
It might be possible for a developer to offer lower priced condos in a conversion project - office to condo or apartment to condo. For example, if someone were to convert the Robert E. Lee hotel to condos, some 2 bedroom units might sell for less than $300,000.