Local metro put in a light rail line years ago through an area with the expectation that it would re-invigorate those neighborhoods and cause more housing to be built. For years, there was very little movement; existing rents and land values along the line were too low for anyone to bother building additional dense housing. This failure, among others, became a talking point among those who have tried to stall building additional lines.
Now, with the metro in an acute housing crunch, rents have gone up enough that investors are finally building more housing along the light rail line. What are they building? Small, chic apartments geared towards young people. It's not really the sort of thing that fosters strong communities, as anyone who wants to start a family is unlikely to stay there long term.
There's really only two outcomes I see: housing prices stabilize at marginally affordable at best, or the "character" they are trying to go for disappears not long after the housing bubble pops, and the area becomes blighted.
All of this is to say that there are market-driven price floors on housing that aren't easy to shift. The "just build housing" mantra might be over-estimating the extent to which people are willing to accept prices going down. There's better ways to make money elsewhere for the people you expect to do the building and management after a certain point.
Now, with the metro in an acute housing crunch, rents have gone up enough that investors are finally building more housing along the light rail line. What are they building? Small, chic apartments geared towards young people. It's not really the sort of thing that fosters strong communities, as anyone who wants to start a family is unlikely to stay there long term.
There's really only two outcomes I see: housing prices stabilize at marginally affordable at best, or the "character" they are trying to go for disappears not long after the housing bubble pops, and the area becomes blighted.
All of this is to say that there are market-driven price floors on housing that aren't easy to shift. The "just build housing" mantra might be over-estimating the extent to which people are willing to accept prices going down. There's better ways to make money elsewhere for the people you expect to do the building and management after a certain point.