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by viknesh 935 days ago
Is public housing the main driver of lower housing prices in comparable economies?

I would have guessed that the HUD being unable to build more housing isn't helping us, but isn't the main reason that prices are skyrocketing in urban areas.
2 comments
bobthepanda 935 days ago
Public housing is important, mostly because private housing growth contracts during economic slowdowns, and the delay in constructing new ones means an eventual crunch when the economy starts needing housing again. If the public housing pipeline is robust it can generate a more even supply.
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TulliusCicero 935 days ago
> Is public housing the main driver of lower housing prices in comparable economies?

Most other Western countries seem to be suffering similar issues, with prices rising and various regulations making it hard to increase the supply of housing.

Vienna seems to be doing better as far as capital cities go, and it has a large amount of social/public housing.

That said, rents in Seoul and Tokyo are fairly reasonable given their size and national importance, and this seems to be because it's just a lot easier to make more housing.

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bobthepanda 934 days ago
Rent in Seoul is good, but price to income is pretty bad, worse than SF. For some reason South Korea's flavor of property investment prefers rental income (as opposed to China, where a lot of invested property is not even finished let alone sublet)

Vienna has a bit of an advantage in that it has been below its population peak for the past hundred years (since the peak was before WWI when it was an imperial capital)

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