Reply to Is there a coherent argument that loosening zoning laws will lead to affordable housing in DC?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]One more talking point that no one seems to discuss: DC is actually has  some of the slowest price appreciation of any major city over the last several years.  In fact DC is now noticably more affordable than several other cities (LA, Seattle, Boston) that were considered to be as expensive or moreso than DC not long ago. This in spite of the fact that we are also one of the fastest growing metros in the country outside of the Sunbelt.

The fact that we've been able to increase housing supply more rapidly than most other high cost cities almost certainly has much to do with that.

See for yourself: https://www.redfin.com/blog/data-center/[/quote]

There's lies, damned lies, and statistics.

The data you're looking at is for entire metro areas. If you look at just the city of DC, the median sales price data is quite different. ([url]https://dc.curbed.com/2019/6/13/18677477/dc-real-estate-home-prices-median-condos[/url]). In fact, home prices grew by double-digit percentages from 2018 to 2019 according to the D.C. Chief Financial Officer. 
Median price of a SFH = 9.5x median DC household income
median price of a townhome = 8.8x median DC household income 
median price of a condo or co-op=5.7x median DC household income

The above numbers compare similarly to Boston within the city limits. And, while San Francisco and Manhattan certainly have DC beat in terms of unaffordability, that is not a prize to strive for. The above ratios are enough to be disqualifying for mortgages, and that is all you need to know.

According to the U.S. Census, we currently have 319,579 housing units in DC. In 2010, we had 296,719 units, so we've experienced an increase of 22,860 housing units. In that same amount of time, the District's population has grown by [b]109,805[/b] people, [b]five times faster [/b]than the number of housing units.

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