The housing industry in North America has been reminding us ad nauseam for the past few years that it can’t afford to build affordable housing.1 That’s why it concentrates as much as possible on luxury housing. Mind you it will, if pressed, lie down and roll over to get its tummy tickled with a government ‘affordable’ housing subsidy of some kind.
Guess what? It seems that the supply of luxury home buyers is drying up. Amazingly, developers are discovering that they can, after all, manage to profitably build ‘missing middle’ housing, affordable housing without even having their tummy tickled — but that’s another story, if you’re interested.2
This luxury overbuilding is a worldwide phenomenon, by the way, with empty upscale apartments in the tens of thousands available from Brooklyn to Malaysia.3 And to think we expected that savvy luxury developers would use their industry-tuned spidey sense to know when to stop!
But perhaps it’s not necessary for them to stop after all. In Vancouver. B.C. we can visit the first baby steps towards great new affordable profits that may become available for those extravagantly exotic, but otherwise empty over-priced mansions. Read more in at CityNews 1130: Is Renting A Mansion An Affordable Housing Option For Students?
Footnotes
- The American Housing Industry’s Addiction To Luxury Homes Is Damaging Its Health. And Ours.
- Developers Discover ‘Missing Middle’ Housing Possible Without Subsidies
- Try this story about Brooklyn: As Brooklyn Towers Soar, a Sinking Feeling for Developers and this one about Malaysia: Developers caught in rut as demand for affordable housing higher than supply, with expensive homes unsold
