Pittsburgh pessimism (Baldwin, Sharpsburg, Lawrenceville: 2015, renting, lofts)

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by goofy328

Is the boom over?

Yes. Can I have $5.

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by goofy328

Is the boom over?

There was never a boom. The city isn't growing. It's a renaissance. Pittsburgh is being reborn as a city that is attractive to artists an professionals. Households are getting smaller, median household income is going up, and a lot of the middle-class is being left behind.

I think people expected a lot of new companies to show up overnight and give $60,000 to everyone with a bachelors, and 30k to people without, all while maintaining Pittsburgh's 1996 cost of living. They see the city changing, but not growing. They aren't included in the change, so they dismiss it.

[Moby Hick]

And all the obvious extra money in the city over the past twelve years came from some other industry that didn't grow?

[sealie]

Why is it that "unless you are in computers you won't feel this positive influence of jobs and money" but if it's your own industry, young people were doing well and "hotel and new construction was high"? Are you under the impression that tech workers sleep in the trees and live on a diet of dreams and pixels?

[theta_sigma]

The reason housing prices have been going up in the East End is not because of some secret cabal intent on ruining everyone's lives, it's because of demand. Clearly something is rapidly changing right now that is creating a real estate crunch in the East End where it did not exist before. Inventory is very low (people aren't leaving--most of the houses I looked at in the past few months were estate sales, not young families moving out) and demand is extremely high--people want to live here and they have the ability to pay for it. To me, this does not indicate a collapsing city economy.

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by theta_sigma

The reason housing prices have been going up in the East End is not because of some secret cabal intent on ruining everyone's lives, it's because of demand. Clearly something is rapidly changing right now that is creating a real estate crunch in the East End where it did not exist before. Inventory is very low (people aren't leaving--most of the houses I looked at in the past few months were estate sales, not young families moving out) and demand is extremely high--people want to live here and they have the ability to pay for it. To me, this does not indicate a collapsing city economy.

Also, demand isn't just high in the East End. Downtown, The Strip District, Southside Flats, and the lower northside are both seeing improvements. And it's not as if the East End is some tiny corner of the city. More than half of Pittsburgh population lives in The East End. People want to live in the city now, and are willing to pay for it.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by gladhands

Regardless of what the Census Bureau says, modern-day metro Pittsburgh does not extend far beyond Allegheny County. There are a few genuine exurbs, Most of the outlying regions connection to Pittsburgh begins and ends with Steeler fan but most of the outlying regions connection to Pittsburgh begins and ends with Steeler fandom. Their success is not Pittsburgh success, nor is their stagnation Pittsburgh's stagnation.

No idea where the Stiller reference comes from but if their fandom ever had anything to do with city population, the city would be at/above capacity and 'burgh economy would be forever booming.

[Craziaskowboi]

The urban core is doing fine, but the exurban fringe is not. It's as simple as that. In March, the worst-performing job sector in the Pittsburgh MSA was mining and logging, which had a year-over-year change of -16.0%, and the second-worst-performing sector was manufacturing, which had a year-over-year change of -5.8%. Jobs in those two sectors are found mostly in the exurban fringe, and that's a fact.

And it's obvious that this is directly related to the global energy market crash, considering the Houston MSA is bleeding jobs in those two sectors as well (-13.1% in mining and logging, -7.8% in manufacturing). In fact, the year-over-year rate of all non-farm job growth in the Pittsburgh and Houston MSAs in March was +0.2% and +0.3%, respectively. I suppose government job growth accounts for the decimal point of difference between the two (-0.3% in Pittsburgh, +2.1% in Houston).

Originally Posted by erieguy

No idea where the Stiller reference comes from but if their fandom ever had anything to do with city population, the city would be at/above capacity and 'burgh economy would be forever booming.

He's saying that their "Pittsburgher" traits begin and end at being Steeler fans. Sports allegiances are about the only civic, economic or emotional investment they have in the city. Most people don't consider somebody from Winder to be an Atlantan, so it's a stretch to say that somebody from Connellsville is a Pittsburgher.

[theta_sigma]

I used to live in a rural county in Maryland, about an hour south of the Washington D.C. metro area (90 minutes if you wanted to actually get into the District proper). While there were a few people who did actually make that daily commute (those people are crazy), no one who lived there ever considered themselves as residents of the D.C. metro area, and pointing to the economics of a county where tobacco farming and crabbing was a thing as indicative of the health of the D.C. MSA would be silly. Rural counties have their own economic struggles, but they aren't the same as whatever urban area happens to be an hour or two away.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by Craziaskowboi

He's saying that their "Pittsburgher" traits begin and end at being Steeler fans. Sports allegiances are about the only civic, economic or emotional investment they have in the city. Most people don't consider somebody from Winder to be an Atlantan, so it's a stretch to say that somebody from Connellsville is a Pittsburgher.

In reality, many just don't prefer city living. Traffic, congestion, noise, crime, less than stellar school system, lack of parking, small to no yard, etc...

But the opposite of the above mentioned issues and it being a short drive to visit the city is appealing. Many of us see it as a great place to visit but just don't choose to live there...and it's not just da 'burgh. It's city living in general that doesn't appeal to everyone.