[lunaru]

To clarify, this math doesn't work because the price I mentioned is just labor and materials. Land is not included nor are soft costs like architects.

That 2BR apartment for $300,000 can't happen because the land and soft costs, as well as considerations like developer margin are additive to that.

[urthor]

True. Ultimately we can't know until we quantify the costs for high-rise apartments.

All I'll say is that, yes labor's an input. You have to quantify that cost per square foot.

But, given the number of property developments that have been attempted in the Bay Area and blocked, my (guess) is the economics stack up. Otherwise, developers wouldn't have attempted it.