Quote:
Originally Posted by Drybrain
I'm tired of the ultra-NIMBY types too, but the effect of NIMBYism on our attractiveness to young people and immigrants is undoubtedly close to zero. No one moves away because there aren't enough tall buildings, and tall buildings in and of themselves don't represent economic health and civic growth any more than sprawly subdivisions do. They represent tall buildings, nothing more.
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Well, the effect of NIMBYs on housing costs can be enormous. Halifax just hasn't seen that as much.
Here in Vancouver prices are driven up partly because of speculation and foreign buyers, but multi-unit prices are also high because land costs are high and high density zoning in good neighbourhoods is in short supply.
You can't have an affordable, market-rate building if a lot costs $10M and it is only zoned for 40 units. That is more a Vancouver-like scenario than Halifax-like right now, but actually peninsular Halifax has high land prices as well (the Maple site might have been $5-10M+ for example), which guarantees a high land cost per unit in a midrise.
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