Are There Too Many Homes in America? Almost Surely Not
Modeled Behavior:
Are There Too Many Homes in America, Ctd « Modeled Behavior: I sense that a bit of the blogosphere is warming up to the idea that there are not enough homes in America, but now they are saying: we have the wrong kind of homes. They admit there are not enough apartments in NYC but think that the rest of America is flush with homes. This would make a lot of sense if you have a core belief that urbanism is the future and that the big cities are set to boom even bigger. For my money urbanism is a potential future but I am starting to take the possibility of radical ex-urbanism more seriously....
Even as the US added millions of new residents over the last decade, multi-family construction stalled before falling off a cliff and manufactured homes have been on a steady downward trend. Population growth was matched – and mildly exceeded – by growth in single family homes. Now that single family has fallen of a cliff as well, we simply are not producing homes at the rate we are adding people. Unless living patterns shift dramatically, something has to give. That means a ramp up in construction. The longer home building is suppressed the larger the imbalance will become.
