Quote:
Originally Posted by iheartthed
This may be controversial but... It's healthy for urban neighborhoods to get expensive. That means the neighborhoods are growing and it is an indicator for developers to build housing. Increasing prices also help to distribute amenities and services by distributing high incomes over a wider area instead of having them concentrated in a small area of a city.
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Yeah, I think a lot of people from hot real estate markets don't really understand the flip side of this equation. Growing up in the (quasi) Rust Belt has really helped me understand what happens when demand drops off. People bemoan expensive neighborhoods, but you know what happens in cheap neighborhoods where no one wants to live? Abandonment, demolition, people losing money on their biggest assets (assuming they own), crime, and a spiral of decline. It's not pretty, and it's far more damaging than having expensive housing. Expensive housing is a symptom of a city where people want to live. Yes, things get problematic when housing costs get crazy high compared to wages, but that's a better problem than having a ton of cheap housing that no one wants to live in. The former results in long commutes and overcrowded housing. The latter results in urban prairies and bankrupt cities. Take your pick.