urbanMSP

Zero down payment subprime mortgages are returning.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/12/thousan ... gages.html

The requirement to live in the house (not be an investor) and take financial education classes on what you sign up for makes this totally different and safe they are saying.

Pretty good opinion piece on the tension between cities and builders that is exacerbating housing shortages in the Twin Cities.

http://www.startribune.com/twin-cities- ... 567890982/

Some proposals to rein in Minnesota’s cities regulations that limit the construction of affordable housing.

http://www.startribune.com/lawmakers-wa ... 568637322/

Someone is proposing duplexes be allowed statewide in single family zoning.

We might find out that AirBnB does negatively affect housing supply and thus rents.
https://twitter.com/RobCross247/status/ ... 0565111808
Would be fascinated to see what happens with AirBnB quantity in the Twin Cities with the pandemic, and how many of them are turned over into rentals.

I don't think anyone doubts that AirBnB has that effect!

A few checks of tourist-heavy cities shows the same trend.

https://twitter.com/IamShaneMorris/stat ... 4154247168

The housing market collapse Carol Becker told us all to wait around for if someone wanted to buy a house at affordable prices (instead of building enough homes to meet supply) looks like it is coming very soon!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mortgage ... 00526.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... e-defaults

I'm not sure where to post this, but with other major cities getting hit harder by job losses due to reliance on specific industries (Houston & oil, Seattle and Boeing) is there a chance we'll get some of those residents if we can rebound our economy more quickly?

An interesting counter force is the huge growth to work from home happening. If our local companies and industries are more resilient that other markets, why bother moving to the Twin Cities if you can stay in Seattle and work for a Minnesota company.

I was thinking that if a large percentage of jobs can move nearly anywhere, would workers look to states with a high safety net or low safety net? A low cost-high safety net might be extremely attractive when it comes to folks’ plans. That might put smaller cities that are near to the Twin Cities higher on places folks might locate to.

Also will we see more people in Woodbury take a job in Maple Grove if Work From Home is more prevalent?
I know that some people do this now, but will more people do this?

At the company I work there's a rule that everyone has to live in Minnesota or Wisconsin. Initially it was partly so they could get called for meeting in the office or for a team-building event or to swap out a defective thin client (we aren't allowed to use our own computers so there's not data breach if one gets stolen) or to come into our office if the internet is down in a reasonable time.

Now the office is shut down, possibly permanently, things are different, but HR still doesn't want to deal with 50 different sets of income tax and employment regulations.

I could see COVID-19 hurting Downtown areas with the work from home trend. I'm not sure how much that will affect metro areas however. Texas is going to be hit hard with job losses and then their budget given their tax structure. Those few metro areas reliant on hard hit industries are going to lose population and go where there are jobs I presume?

Living downtown or in denser areas isn’t just about job proximity. Some people live downtown & work in the burbs.

Living in a dense area gives you walkable & bikeable amenities such as more sophisticated parks, multiple recreational trails, museums, shopping, errands, gyms, stadiums, friends, food, bars, entertainment, etc., etc.

Remember, COVID-19 is short term in the big scheme of things. Little changed about cities after the Spanish Flu pandemic. Working from home is fine for some people (introverts, people with semi-dedicated space for it), but I don’t think it’s ever going to dominate working. And if you’re an extrovert and work from home in the suburbs, you’re going to have a lonely existence.

Nice MinnPost story on Covid-19’s affect on rental markets.

https://www.minnpost.com/economy/2020/0 ... in-cities/

Strib story on how the lumber price spike is affecting apartment projects, both currently underway and in the pipeline. Quotes from Doran and others.

https://www.startribune.com/sticker-sho ... fresh=true

I just built a Pergola and the price for cedar was brutal.

I just paid 9.99 for a 2x4.

Meanwhile, NYT reporting lumber prices falling back to earth: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/21/busi ... price.html

A really good explainer from VOX on the economics of new housing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEsC5hN ... =emb_title