Why are all these luxury condos and apartments being built when we need regular apartments? (Austin: appliances, hotels)

[creepy]

Originally Posted by Taynxtlvl

And for that reason Austin lost me when I relocated from North Carolina. I decided on Dallas as least up here for now they are still building a variety of apartments. And the older apartments keep up very well and are competitive I've noticed. Austin is horrendous for the way they are setting up these apartments and home prices. Friends were talking about this just the other day. It's a beautiful city but that is no excuse. It is on the city to require builders to include a certain percentages of more reasonable rents. Its how all the big cities do it. DC, Dallas, Atlanta. But Austin being weird is not there yet.

Yes, this is the wrong kind of weird, "Friends were talking about this just the other day. It's a beautiful city but that is no excuse. It is on the city to require builders to include a certain percentages of more reasonable rents. Its how all the big cities do it. DC, Dallas, Atlanta. But Austin being weird is not there yet.[/quote]"

[creepy]

[quote=balor123;40984663]Apartment prices are largely a function of market prices, not the building itself. Newer buildings are nicer than old ones because that's the only way to attract renters to pay a new building price. Builders unfortunately cannot build old buildings at old building prices. All apartments are luxury when first built in essence....

[Trainwreck20]

Regulating to that level will cause disaster. As mentioned above, it isn't the construction that results in luxury prices, it is the demand. If you artificially hold prices down in a unit-limited market, how do you determine who gets the units? Lottery? Currently, the one who will pay the most gets the units. Fair? Depends on how you decide fair. But since the developer is footing the bill when they buy the property and not being 'allowed' to make their money on rental, do you then dictate property prices? I mean, if it is a multi-million dollar property and you limit the rents to the point that a developer won't build, that doesn't really solve the problem. And then you have to figure that the property is greatly devalued for tax purposes, then which reduces city revenues in general.

If you are going as far as some are implying above, you almost have to go full socialist. Who knows, maybe we will end up there eventually? But the better alternative seems to be let the market sort itself out and realize that not everyone gets a trophy. If that ends up destroying the city, then that's what happens and it eventually will have to re-invent itself via the new market forces. The existing affordable housing requirements prod the market instead of trying to dictate whole-cloth, which, imho, works better in the long run (if not the immediate moment).

[Trainwreck20]

Well, then, lets start with the one issue:
If the supply is limited and you limit the price, how do you decide gets the unit?

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Well, then, lets start with the one issue:
If the supply is limited and you limit the price, how do you decide gets the unit?

Thank you.
Further, how do you avoid a 'black market' that would result when buyer x tells the seller that he is willing to give a scholarship to the seller's son even though he 'pays' the controlled price for the property that buyer y was willing to pay 'only' the set price for?

Heck, I'm still wondering what the balance point will be...if there is one...a point at which folks slow down the mad rush to get to Austin at all costs. It ain't a resort, folks! It ain't the promised land(not for most, anyway). Frankly, if we weren't already here(and I could know what I know now), I doubt we would move here(family dynamic has changed from the main reason we moved here 7 years ago).

Even with 300 million folks to choose from, one would think 'someday' we will run out of the "I don't have a job or transportation, but I must live within walking distance of multiple live music venues, a coffee house with free wi-fi, an organic grocery and natural clothing store and an off-price indie book shop" folks...especially when 'they' can't find a place to live within their budget.

Yes, we need service people and clerks and bike mechanics and maintenance folks who typically don't make enough money to live close to work(in this current Austin market). Can ANYbody point to a current hot market where those folks CAN afford to live within easy distance from 'the city' while the demand is as great as it is here? Getting back to the 'resort' analogy, there are plenty of places where the 'workers' must travel a great distance to reach their workplace...because of the high prices within the desired area. Highlands, North Carolina is one(top of a mountain...and they ain't building any more mountains) or Hilton Head Island or The Hamptons or San Francisco. To me, Austin doesn't bear any resemblance to any of those places...EXCEPT for the demand to live here. The market will do what the market does.


PERHAPS if the city had let 'other' types of housing be created closer in...and those pesky NAs didn't have all the power they have...and not everybody and his brother wanted to live within walking distance of 6th Street...things MIGHT be different. But, they aren't, and trying to fashion some sort of price controls on private property won't "fix" the problem. Not in Austin, TX ...not in Anywhere, USA

[cBach]

Of the 100 people moving here per day, even if 10 people moving here are wealthy, then you can quickly get enough demand to have enough of a market. Because they can tailor to the upper income spectrum, they do.

However, the Texas sun and Gulf humidity wreak havoc on older structures that weren't built of concrete and steel. Those circa 1990 & 2000 structures, which at the time were "high end" are now mid range. Think of when wall to wall carpet and corian countertops were the "in thing". The circa 1970 & 1980 structures that have remained unimproved are now for the low end. Think linoleum & parquet & electric appliances.

There was an article about Houston and how the "ring" keeps widening, but one of the reasons the restaurant scene is thriving is because the old outer rings, now middle rings, which are mainly circa 1980 strip malls are very cheap. So immigrant families can afford the rent and can put up mom & pop restaurants.

But they were also saying the newer malls are "town centres" with high end shops. So it seems that as a city booms, most new construction tends to be high end, and older properties then become the mid range.

I'll see if I can find the article.

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by creepy

Why are all these luxury condos and apartments being built when we need regular apartments?

The market. Apartment owners build what the market demands. It really is that simple.

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by creepy

Supply and demand? No, the demand is for middle priced places. Don't be naive. They are building those luxury places-so they will come.

.

Then why don't you build a middle priced apartment. If there is the demand you say, you would make a fortune.

[Westerner92]

[mod cut]

Oh man, this thread is a gold mine for cringey internet politics.

[radiolibre99]

So of course Westerner you're the happy medium?