Anti YIMBYs long argued that broad upzoning would concentrate development in low-income areas with cheap land. Two years into the effective abolition of zoning in many cities, this has not happened. Instead, developers are doing projects in the wealthiest, most-expensive areas.
Anti HydroBahn Aktion @TribTowerViews
Mar 22
We're now two years into Builders Remedy realm in California and every BR application is in high-resource suburb or urban neighborhood. And yet we still have people claiming that development capital prefers to build in low-resource neighborhoods rather than high-resource ones.

Mar 23, 2024 · 4:32 PM UTC

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Replying to @maxdubler
What’s the reason that developers are passing on construction in places with cheap land? Isn’t it still profitable even if not the most desirable location?
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Not as profitable as building in places with very high rents.
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Replying to @maxdubler @orangutanagram
Makes sense. The difference in the rents you can collect easily outweighs the difference in land cost. Land is a small percentage of the total project cost for most development.
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That’s just what the real estate finance people WANT you to think. Critical geographers wisely reject Spreadsheet Thought for the immortal science of rent gap theory.
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Replying to @maxdubler
On the other side, these wealthy areas are probably where housing was battled and backlogged the most making them the areas most likely to use builders remedy.
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Replying to @maxdubler
Makes total sense - why wouldn’t you build units where the average value is higher? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Replying to @maxdubler
Provide a product to people who can afford to pay you.
Replying to @maxdubler
Bay area should absolutely encourage density in commercial areas in transit rich outlying lower income cities. Promises lower costs to buyers.
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Replying to @maxdubler
Which is obvious if you think about it, development targets the biggest delta between desire to live somewhere and the long repressed ability to live there.
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Replying to @maxdubler
Higher prices indicate greater demand.
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