A housing question to Californians

[Spiffor]

If I understand correctly, Californbia's population has boomed and has now reached 30 million. In the meantime, housing prices have also skyrocketed. It seems pretty srtaightforward from my perspective: booming population = booming demand = booming price.

However, my question is about how the offer adapts to this new demand. And more specifically, are there apartments being built, or is the individual house still the normal kind of housing, from the poorest to the richest parts of society?

If apartments are being built, are they luxury apartments (easily as costly as houses, if not more), or are they cheap and aimed at the working man?

Thanks for the answers

[Japher]

I left California because of the housing market being too demanding. In central and Northern California single family housing is still the most desirable option. The only exception would be the SF bay area where condos are sprouting up, mainly by home owners sectioning off their homes (most of the time illegally). There are some skyrise apartments and condos being built, but few. I have seen some try to combine buisness with housing, but in hippy land they all want ecofriendly instead of affordable.

Just to note, nothing in CA is cheap and aimed at the working man.

[Cyclotron]

I'm from Marin county, north of San Francisco, which is probably not a good indicator - it's composed mostly of fairly wealthy towns. The phenomenon of skyrocketing home prices has affected us particularly; most public servants, police officers, teachers, etc. commute from out of the county because they can't afford to live there.

Marin is largely suburban, and houses are the normal thing here - and not many are being constructed, thanks in part to much of the county being public land. I'm not aware of any significant apartment-building going on there, and I doubt very much that it's going on in SF, as they ran out of space a long time ago.

If one wants to get a cheap apartment in my city (San Rafael), one must inevitably look at the Canal district, which is home to much of the city's overcrowded and poorer latino population. Even there, I doubt there is much room left. Unfortunately, the real growth in housing - and also in population - is probably occuring outside the county, in places like Sonoma, Napa, and the East Bay.

I hope that helps a bit, though it's rather limited...

[Az]

So you people will rather drive 2 hours to work than live in an appartment building, huh?

[Japher]

Not always... ppl have to drive 2 hours just to afford to live. Apartments near my old job cost more than I could afford.

[Spiffor]

Thanks for the answer Cyclotron Individual accounts are what I'd like to know, more than stats

(though is anybody wants to provide stats, they're welcome as well )

[Az]

Not always... ppl have to drive 2 hours just to afford to live. Apartments near my old job cost more than I could afford.

I really don't get it, with the housing boom, there should've been far more highrises going up. however, it seems that all you get in SoCal is another suburb, even farther away. Is there some sort of ban on highrise buildings in SoCal?

[Zkribbler]

In the LA area, I've seen three kinds of building. First, in downtown, there's been a big recent push to turn old abandoned office buildings into lofts, luxury condos and apartments. Second, in the outlying areas, i.e. 1 1/2 - 2 hours drive from LA, there are one family houses being build. Three, in formerly middle-class neighborhoods around LA, simple single-family houses are being torn and and luxury one-family houses are being built in thneir place. I've seen no working-folk apartments being built..but LAs a big place and maybe I've missed them.

The housing market here is insane. Housing costs are beyond the reach of 75-80% of the population. I've heard of three couples going in together to buy a three bedroom house for them all to live in. Hokey smoke, what happens if a baby shows up?

[Az]

This looks like a great bussiness opportunity - where's the catch?

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Az
This looks like a great bussiness opportunity - where's the catch?

The Yanks hate the idea of living close to other people

[Zkribbler]

Real Estate prices in San Diego, which were leading the charge upward, have flattened. It looks like the top of the boom is in sight. Get ready to see prices starting to drop. Can you spell "massive foreclosures?"

[Az]

The Yanks hate the idea of living close to other people

It seems that with certain old commercial buildings turning into flats, this can be cured with ample space of appartments, and luxury.

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by Az

Not always... ppl have to drive 2 hours just to afford to live. Apartments near my old job cost more than I could afford.

I really don't get it, with the housing boom, there should've been far more highrises going up. however, it seems that all you get in SoCal is another suburb, even farther away. Is there some sort of ban on highrise buildings in SoCal?

You have to remember that the housing market in the US (and Canada) is entirely private, so developers are inclined to build that which there's the greatest margins. It's expensive to build highrises and they're just not as desirable for most people in North America. So, while you can make money off of condo developments, it's usually not as much. As for highrise rental units, there's almost no money to be made on them, so they're very rarely built.

[Provost Harrison]

Sounds very similar to London, which is also ridiculously expensive. I am currently renting a place but could not afford to buy due to the insanely high prices. But the increases of a couple of years ago appear to be coming to a stop...I am now hoping for some kind of property crash. But the simple fact is that housing construction has not kept track of the demand, and sometimes I think it is for the sake of protecting the overinflated property market. Get building dammit!

[mrmitchell]

Originally posted by Az

Not always... ppl have to drive 2 hours just to afford to live. Apartments near my old job cost more than I could afford.

I really don't get it, with the housing boom, there should've been far more highrises going up. however, it seems that all you get in SoCal is another suburb, even farther away. Is there some sort of ban on highrise buildings in SoCal?

It's a lot more profitable to build a luxury house and sell it to millionaires, than it is to build homes for the working class. I think it's a fairly universal phenomenon in the country and probably in the world.

In Israel, outside government housing, how many private developers are building new houses/apartments for those of modest income?