urbanMSP

Job growth in the Twin Cities is outpacing house building.

http://www.startribune.com/home-buildin ... 394753571/

It's kind of scattershot in nailing down culprits, but pointed to is the desire to put homes where people want them, but jobs and parks, and that land is more expensive from little supply and high demand. Also pointed to are municipal fees among the highest in the nation (25–30% of cost) and building codes and energy efficiency regulations among the toughest in the nation. All leading builders to expend efforts on the high end of the market.

I wonder why the article writer doesn't point out zoning lot sizes in outer suburbs play a role in the cost of land that goes into housing costs?

Realtors (yes, I'm generalizing, but it seems like the majority) get whiney whenever their ideas of how things should work get challenged. Now a shortage, a legitimate market condition which induces the market to act, results in realtors calling the market "skewed."

An article about Portland's changes to their zoning code to discourage 1:1 teardown & replacement of smaller houses with McMansions, other code changes to discourage front-loaded driveways on narrow lots, etc. https://openhousing.net/the-residential ... .fwghxckxr

Georgia-based company bought hundreds of cheap North Minneapolis homes. Now rents them out.

http://m.startribune.com/homes-in-low-i ... /399170271

http://www.startribune.com/twin-cities- ... 401126695/
http://finance-commerce.com/2016/11/eag ... in-cities/

October market update. More of the same: rates are still low, lots of Millennials are ready to buy starter homes (defined as $190-250k by both articles), not enough people are selling said homes.

For whatever reason, you never see any solutions proposed (other than building more houses 30-40 miles from the city). What about building affordable rentals and co-ops targeted at low-income seniors that will sell their lower-end homes? Obviously that would require government subsidy, but even getting another 500 houses or so on the market in each St. Paul and Minneapolis would make a difference in the market. And it would help a bunch of senior singles who are physically unable to care for their homes. Anyone know if you can split out ACS data to see how many seniors (say, age 75+) are living alone in SFHs in Minneapolis?

I don't know; after looking up homes for sale in Minneapolis/St. Paul and close in, it seems like the starter home* inventory is tight but not unworkable, especially if you are willing to go out a little ways.

I think people's expectations have gotten out of whack, honestly, when it comes to starter homes. If someone expects a 3+BR SFH with fully updated finishes, no or minimal repairs needed, good access to transit, and shops/restaurants within walking distance, then yeah, it's going to cost them in 2016, because a lot of other people want that too. If a buyer isn't willing to be flexible, that is going to limit their options.

* Which I'm defining here as less than $250K and two or more bedrooms.

I think QB nails it: the interpretation of "starter" has changed significantly. In my head, a starter home is small (2 BR / 1.5 BA) and probably needs some work. Anyone expecting 3+ / 2+ and catalog-quality finishes isn't actually looking for starter, whether it's their first home purchase or not.

To pile on, it's a *lot* easier to meet the needs of a young person, couple, or even small family (1 kid, or 0 kids and 1-2 pets-as-kids) looking to buy rather than rent. 2BR and 1.5 BA (half for people visiting) meets that need. ADUs, carving out a SFH to duplex, a fourplex, even a 20-unit condo/co-op building could meet that need, brand-new for around $250k. But there are lots of people who buy their first home with 3-4 BRs with the intention of it being a "starter" and then sell and move when they have their first or second kid (I will admit I'm letting my white, well-off background and facebook feed/friend anecdotes feed this impression!!). Beyond just 65+ year-olds living in their urban or first-ring single family home, I'm interested in how many people could have reasonably stayed in an apartment building a little longer, or could have moved into something in between a 1-BR unit and a 3+ BR home. And I will fully take blame for this! We moved into our Mpls house (3BR, 1.5BA, added a master, has room for expansion in the basement) with just an infant (+ 2 goldens), when renting a 2-3BR unit in a small building in our neighborhood would have worked just fine for us for a couple more years.

But yeah, lotta boomers who have kids in their 20s, and don't want to sell said kids' childhood home because hey 3x a year you need space to host them on holidays and whatnot, plus who wants to live in a stack and pack apartment once you've retired, right?

Not sure where this belongs, but the Trib did a comparison of total city taxes for Minneapolis vs. St. Paul.

http://www.startribune.com/do-public-se ... 404315596/

The result being that for a house valued at $180k, St. Paul taxes cost more. For the median house in each city, Minneapolis costs more, because Minneapolis houses are worth much more on average than St. Paul ($206k vs $161k).

I've thought about how to do tax comparisons between cities and between times, which is a more difficult concept then you'd think. I think median is the way to go, because it would help show city wide trends rather than things happening to a localized area. But those localized things do happen and are real! But I don't think they tell meaningful stories about the city budget and the overall tax burden, since those localized things are related to increases in property values in an area, not citywide taxation.

$5.77 sq/ft in Seattle...

https://imgur.com/gallery/HvgVt#GDf61iK

I've thought about how to do tax comparisons between cities and between times, which is a more difficult concept then you'd think. I think median is the way to go, because it would help show city wide trends rather than things happening to a localized area. But those localized things do happen and are real! But I don't think they tell meaningful stories about the city budget and the overall tax burden, since those localized things are related to increases in property values in an area, not citywide taxation.

To this point...

Minneapolis and St Paul are obviously very similar cities: built form, density, street layout and design, public amenities (trees, sidewalks, etc), park coverage/maintenance, and even the type of services they provide residents (affordable housing funds, social services, etc). So making a comparison is at least mostly apples to apples when looking at property taxes per median HH value.

But as I pointed out here, comparing Minneapolis or St Paul to a suburb that doesn't do many of those things (and, more critically, doesn't have city-wide infrastructure at the point of constant replacement) is not really helpful. Anyway!

Micro units are in high demand in popular neighborhoods. Renting out far before the other size units do.

http://www.startribune.com/studio-apart ... 413495353/

Maybe the city needs to look at exclusionary restrictions that have artificial limits set so low that variances are needed to meet demand.

Has anyone here ever done a minor subdivision within the City of Minneapolis?

According to a new index created by the Star Tribune, Richfield is the hottest housing market in the Twin Cities:

http://www.startribune.com/new-index-fi ... 416500793/

Ugliness is to blame for high housing prices:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/dcbjWGj3jBk[/youtube]

The Atlantic ran an article about YIMBY groups around the country. From 'Not in My Backyard' to 'Yes in My Backyard': Out of a desire for more-equitable housing policy, some city dwellers have started allying with developers instead of opposing them.

There is a grain of truth to the ugliness objection. Though I doubt many would agree on the standards of beauty.

Market report for our MSA (metropolitan statistical area). It is pretty broad.

https://www.huduser.gov/portal/publicat ... omp-17.pdf


Highlights:

• The metropolitan economy is strong. During the 12 months ending February 2017, nonfarm payrolls rose by 30,600 jobs, or 1.6 percent, from a year earlier to average 1.96 million jobs, and exceeded the previous peak of 1.85 million jobs in 2007 by more than 6 percent. Economic conditions are expected to continue to remain strong during the next 3 years.
• Home sales market conditions are tight. New and existing home sales have declined during the past year, largely because of low levels of sales inventory. Home sales prices continue to rise, and rate of price growth rose during the past 12 months. Single-family home construction is increasing, but is still below pre-recession levels.
• Rental market conditions are balanced. The rental vacancy rate, including single-family homes, apartments, and mobile homes, is estimated to be 4.8 percent, down from 7.6 percent in April 2010. Apartment market conditions are tight, with a vacancy rate of 2.3 percent during the fourth quarter of 2016.
• Recent apartment construction has been concentrated near the Metro Green Line, which attracted $4.2 billion in economic development during the first two years of operation (Metropolitan Council).

absolutely right .. but the tax rate is high that's the problematic thing ..