Construction Costs
What it costs to actually build a home. Materials pricing, labor availability, code requirements, and how those costs set the floor beneath what new housing can rent or sell for.
The $546,000 Door
Chris LaGrand and I explain why Build America, Buy America lands hardest on affordable deals, where capped rents and fixed awards leave added costs nowhere to hide.
We didn't just price out renters. We priced out the ability to build.
How regulation, delay, and rising development costs turned a housing affordability crisis into a breakdown in the basic ability to build — and where that leaves federal policy.
Creating the Workforce Needed to Build Housing
Writing early in the pandemic, we argue that retraining workers for construction could speed recovery and ease the labor shortage that limits housing production.
Part One of our Series on the Broken Housing Ecosystem: Impact Fees
I introduce a series on the broken housing ecosystem by showing how impact fees that rise as growth slows can undercut the development cities need.
Why older homes become more unaffordable if new homes cost more to build
I trace how higher development costs can suppress new production and transmit scarcity into the prices of older homes in high-demand markets.
5 pieces · View in the full archive →