| Flip it on its head a bit. Let's say you live in a neighborhood of mostly single family homes. A new law is passed changing the zoning to allow higher density, and other barriers to building up are reduced or eliminated. A few people near you sell their homes; they're bulldozed and are replaced with multi-family units. Sure, over the short term, your home value might drop because of greater supply helping to meet demand. However, over the long term, or even medium term, two things may happen: 1. Your home value goes up because single family homes are less available, and are more desirable. 2. Your home value goes up because developers want to buy your home in order to build a multi-family dwelling there. Meanwhile, more people are able to live nearby, more affordably, likely cutting down their work commute and increasing their quality of life. I guess the incumbent owners really are that selfish that they fight tooth and nail to prevent others from increasing their quality of life. |