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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]If you tried to reduce housing prices in New York City by increasing the housing supply and you actually did build enough units to affect prices, you would encourage more people to move there because now it would be within their budgets. That would push prices back up. 
[/b]

That assumes that if rents went down in NYC by even 1%, lots more people would move there.  It assume a homogeneity of preferences for urban living that is unrealistic - in English - even if NYC were cheaper, there are lots of people who do NOT want to live there.

second if that DID happen - more people living in NYC - it would reduce green house gas emissions, because NYC is the most GHG efficient place in the USA.

Similar things apply to DC.  [/quote]

Developers build what's profitable for them, which is luxury condos, not affordable housing.  This helps nobody.  Would you move from a 3K a month rowhouse rental or an older building 2 bedr apartment to a 3K a month one bedroom luxury apartment in the same area? [/quote]

1. They build with as much "luxury" as they do because we limit supply so much. If auto producers faced a legal  limit on total cars produced they would only produce luxury cars.  [b]Increase supply, increase competition,[/b] there will be fewer luxury touches added

2.  Even so, new housing is costly to build.  Markets in the US produce affordable housing when we allow housing to age. There are plenty of old apts in the DC area that are too expensive, because housing is scarce.  Build more supply, get more people from those older buildings into the new ones, and the landlords of the older ones will need to cut rents to fill them

3.  DC and some suburbs have actual inclusionary zoning requirements - to build more high end units, they have to build income limited units as well.

4. The same NIMBYs who oppose market rate units, generally also oppose new committed Affordable Housing - you won't get more low income housing by preventing new supply. [/quote]

Where is that land of benevolent high rise builders? You cannot increase supply without giving government incentives, which usually means some sort of subsidized housing. You cannot force developers to take a hit to build. They are not non profits.  In NYC building developers get tax breaks if they allocate certain percentage of housing to mid income, they don't want low/no income as they want steadily employed law obedient people, just not high earners, they want MC. But this housing is very hard to get, there are long waitlists and lotteries and qualification requires certain level of earned income, but not more than cut off. I know people who live in these places, there used to be entire buildings and compounds, but nobody is building this anymore.  Developers give only a few units away in exchange for tax breaks and this costs the city and its taxpayers. [/quote]

That's addressing point 1.

2. this is a classic chicken and egg problem. To make older units cheaper, new units have to be affordable and abundant. In order of new units to be affordable and abundant developers need to get paid. 
3. To build limited income units you need incentives for developers and this costs money to the city.  Developers are not going to build enough for a lot of limited income families unless there is profit in it.  And building housing low income projects creates social problems, the name of the game these days is mixed housing. 
4. To have new supply, someone has to build it, these people need to make money or be somehow compensated. This has to come from someone, are you ok with your RE taxes or income taxes raising up by a lot to have more of this housing built? Are you ok to be that landlord who invested in buying and improving property to give it away for a loss or way below market to forgo that retirement plan or college fund for your kids? What have you done or are willing to do to take away from yourself to improve the housing situation for others? Things cost money, I am not hearing any solutions to that.[/quote]

I don't think you understand the RE market in DC.  Developers are chomping at the bit to build.   They are constrained by local zoning codes, that make it more costly.  When we waive those, via PUDs in DC or DSUPs in Va, we make them jump through hoops - and after that people still file lawsuits to stop the development.   Look at what has happened with Brookland Manor, or with McMillan, or the battles in Alexandria about the Robinson's Terminal properties.

You do NOT need subsidies to get developers to build more market rate housing.  [/quote]

So, you are saying that in DC market rate housing is affordable for low and mid income? Or are you saying that affordable below market housing is actually profitable for developers to build?[/quote]

No, I am saying that developers will build new market rate housing aimed mostly at upper middle income people.  This in turn will impact the market for middle income housing in older buildings.

So middle income people may not be able to afford market rate units in McMillan (some low income people will get the committed AH units there) but those units will draw people who otherwise would be competing for units built 5 or 10 years ago - and that opening those units up will draw in people who might have lived in 20 year old buildings, etc an so on.  Impacting the rental market at each level down the line.  This is called "filtering"[/quote]

It's highly dependent on the area, there isn't much of the lowering of prices happening in older buildings in already desirable areas, because there is always more demand from people to live there for other reasons, better amenities, more decent schools, safer, more police presence, better transit, closer commute, etc.  It's not only about shiny new towers that attracts people, especially families with kids we are talking about.  If rents fall down in 30 year old building, for example, guess what happens? Then people from less desirable area who were forced there, or would otherwise move there change their minds and move back.  Your assumption is that people want newer or larger, but some only would live in specific areas or only desire a certain type of housing, like TH or SFH, especially families, many of whom are not from overseas or NYC and do want lower density for raising a family.  It's not one rule applies to all.

When neighborhood becomes desirable, then prices rise all over the board and it happens to new or up and coming areas as well.[/quote]

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