Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by TheCoelacanth 57 days ago
Where do you see developers buying up units to tear them down and replace them with the same number of units?

When I see properties getting redeveloped it's usually a tiny house getting replaced with an apartment building. Often it's a strip mall or surface parking lot that wasn't housing anyone getting replaced.

I don't think I've ever seen a redevelopment that doesn't significantly increase the amount of living space.
1 comments
underlipton 56 days ago
>Where do you see developers buying up units to tear them down and replace them with the same number of units?

DC. And when there are more units afterwards, they're luxury. Building more units doesn't magically lower rates; it has to drive landlords of older units to lower their rates. Did that actually happen? You'd have to prove it. Something else could have, like increased non-traditional competition or the end of ZIRP and refinancing horizons coming to bear.

link
TheCoelacanth 56 days ago
That's nonsense. DC has gone from 297k housing units in 2010 to 369k housing units in 2024[1][2].

Developments generally involve more units than what they are replacing.

[1] https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/i...

[2] https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/time-series/demo/popest...

link
underlipton 55 days ago
Row houses often become more expensive row houses. It may not be the bulk of "new" housing in DC, but you asked where it happens, and that's where. So, chill.

In any case, gentrification, infamously kicked thousands of families out of projects, subsidized housing, and regular rentals, replacing them with... definitely not affordable housing. Rent has only gone up. And unless you're a builder, the goal is not building, it's only a means to the end of putting people in affordable homes. If building isn't doing that, it's a policy failure, and other avenues need to be pursued.

link