Quote:
Originally Posted by papertowelroll
Also, what's most expensive right now are SFHs with an entire lot.. a zoning change will put more condos/apartments on the market but the price of SFHs will rise even higher. (Relaxing restrictions on land use will increase the value of that land).
Really rent is not that expensive in Austin, all things considered. It's buying the classic SFH that is crazy, and that won't change unless Austin's economy falls apart.
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Agreed (mostly). Land values for any land use will rise as long as the local economy remains as hot as it has been for the last 25 - 30 years. It doesn't matter if the intended and allowable use is traditional SF, Missing Middle, Multi-family, Mixed-use, Commercial or Industrial. But if four families can share a plot of land that currently only allows a single home that only the wealthiest among us can afford, the four houses that can be built on that land can be affordable to more people.
But, if only a few existing SF lots are rezoned to allow Missing Middle, those lots will sell for a premium because they are a scarce commodity. If every SF lot in the city is allowed four units, the supply of lots that have the potential of supporting Missing Middle will not appreciate any more than their value as SF lots because the supply will exceed demand. Because SF represents the vast majority of lots available in the city today, they actually exceed the demand of the traditional nuclear family they are intended for, as that demographic is now a minority of the population. If we rethink what form SF takes, (federal mortgage underwriting guidelines allow up to four dwelling units per lot to qualify for a conventional residential mortgage), and our perception of what a house is follows that definition, the traditional SF house does not become a rare commodity until a majority of former SF lots are built out as Missing Middle.
Unfortunately, all of this real estate economic talk just plays into the rhetoric of Community Not Community. The Housing Opposition Groups use this sort of explanation to alarm existing home owners that Urbanists are coming for their homes. The reality is that Missing Middle builds community by allowing more people to be neighbors. Low density suburban house forms are built on the principle of privacy and sanctity of homestead. Urban density house forms promote community with greater walkability and visitability, using such devices as shallow front setbacks and friendly front porches.
I could go on, and probably fill out some of my rambling points to make a more cogent argument, but I feel I have already said too much.