Real estate price scapegoats?
September 23, 2021 9:55 AM Subscribe
Who is commonly blamed for high house prices in your region/locale?
For example:
Vancouver: foreign buyers (especially Chinese)
Portland: Portlandia (the TV show)
SF Bay Area: tech workers
Texas: ex-Californians (especially from SF Bay Area)
London: foreign buyers (especially Middle-Eastern)
I’m not looking for debates about whether it’s right or wrong to blame these groups, or extensive details about why they are blamed. I’m just interested to know what the dominant narrative is in your neck of the woods.
Thank you.
For example:
Vancouver: foreign buyers (especially Chinese)
Portland: Portlandia (the TV show)
SF Bay Area: tech workers
Texas: ex-Californians (especially from SF Bay Area)
London: foreign buyers (especially Middle-Eastern)
I’m not looking for debates about whether it’s right or wrong to blame these groups, or extensive details about why they are blamed. I’m just interested to know what the dominant narrative is in your neck of the woods.
Thank you.
Foreigners, generally Asian and Middle Easterners. For buying up new homes and taking all the top spots in schools. Californians are a distant 3rd. behind those two groups.
posted by The_Vegetables at 10:07 AM on September 23, 2021
posted by The_Vegetables at 10:07 AM on September 23, 2021
Anchorage: Real estate companies buying up apartments and jacking up the prices. People from the lower 48 buying vacation homes. To a lesser extent, individual landlords buying properties and either turning them in Airbnbs/short term rentals, or just jacking up the prices and never doing maintenance.
posted by blnkfrnk at 10:08 AM on September 23, 2021
posted by blnkfrnk at 10:08 AM on September 23, 2021
I am also in Edinburgh and I would agree with stillnocturnal and add: people coming up from London (presumably due to being able to work remotely now), selling their London property and thus having lots of cash to buy Edinburgh property at more than it's "worth" as it seems cheap to them compared to where they've come from. This is a narrative I have seen expressed on the Edinburgh subreddit fairly frequently.
posted by cpatterson at 10:09 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by cpatterson at 10:09 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario. Partly Torontonians buying up anything within a 2 hour commute to Toronto. The other part is foreign (on specific country) buyers/money laundering which both effected 1) Toronto and driving them here, and 2) are buying sight unseen, and no conditional inspection, locally.
posted by nobeagle at 10:11 AM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by nobeagle at 10:11 AM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
In Seattle it's also tech workers, especially Amazon, to a lesser extent Microsoft (MS folks tend to settle on the east side) and a few others in the FAANG type category.
The idea, which I think is substantiated, is that they have higher incomes than a lot of people in the neighborhoods that are growing, so people who have lived here for 10, 20 years can't afford a house because they'll be outbid by an Amazon manager whose shares just vested.
On the other hand, Amazon is also known for having a lot of transient tech workers, people who come for 2-3 years (until stock vests) and then hit the road and very seldom stay here since they often are aspiring to live in the bay area.
Of course a little further from downtown, it's the white folks being priced out of formerly semi-affordable areas chasing the people of color who moved out a decade or two ago as they were priced out by these same people.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 10:12 AM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
The idea, which I think is substantiated, is that they have higher incomes than a lot of people in the neighborhoods that are growing, so people who have lived here for 10, 20 years can't afford a house because they'll be outbid by an Amazon manager whose shares just vested.
On the other hand, Amazon is also known for having a lot of transient tech workers, people who come for 2-3 years (until stock vests) and then hit the road and very seldom stay here since they often are aspiring to live in the bay area.
Of course a little further from downtown, it's the white folks being priced out of formerly semi-affordable areas chasing the people of color who moved out a decade or two ago as they were priced out by these same people.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 10:12 AM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
Philadelphia: blames new yorkers. You can even find "keep new york out of Philly" stickers around town.
And large swaths of new jersey blame NYC too.
posted by TheAdamist at 10:13 AM on September 23, 2021
And large swaths of new jersey blame NYC too.
posted by TheAdamist at 10:13 AM on September 23, 2021
Response by poster: @The_Vegetables ... where are you located?
posted by wutangclan at 10:14 AM on September 23, 2021
posted by wutangclan at 10:14 AM on September 23, 2021
Upstate New York: NYC residents fleeing COVID-19 with sacks of cash. Prior to COVID, NYC residents in search of small-town/farm life (with sacks of cash).
posted by letourneau at 10:15 AM on September 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by letourneau at 10:15 AM on September 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
Seattle: Californians, Amazon, developers.
posted by lunasol at 10:21 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by lunasol at 10:21 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
In Portland, I hear the blame being placed on Californians way more often than I hear Portlandia being blamed.
posted by hydra77 at 10:22 AM on September 23, 2021 [11 favorites]
posted by hydra77 at 10:22 AM on September 23, 2021 [11 favorites]
Colorado: Californians and more recently Texans.
Arizona: Californians, Texans, and more recently Coloradans.
posted by tinymojo at 10:23 AM on September 23, 2021
Arizona: Californians, Texans, and more recently Coloradans.
posted by tinymojo at 10:23 AM on September 23, 2021
Response by poster: @lunasol by "developers" -- do you mean of software, real estate, or other?
posted by wutangclan at 10:25 AM on September 23, 2021
posted by wutangclan at 10:25 AM on September 23, 2021
NW WA (Bellingham), in rough order: developers (to buy, reno, and rent out/sell as rentals), Californians, Seattleites, Chinese investors.
posted by supercres at 10:26 AM on September 23, 2021
posted by supercres at 10:26 AM on September 23, 2021
@lunasol by "developers" -- do you mean of software, real estate, or other?
I meant real estate (people buying up old homes and building ugly boxy townhouses) but it applies to software developers too! To follow on BlackLeotardFront's comment, a lot of Amazon transplants come here not just with high salaries but signing bonuses that they can use as down payments. At least that's the common idea.
posted by lunasol at 10:27 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
I meant real estate (people buying up old homes and building ugly boxy townhouses) but it applies to software developers too! To follow on BlackLeotardFront's comment, a lot of Amazon transplants come here not just with high salaries but signing bonuses that they can use as down payments. At least that's the common idea.
posted by lunasol at 10:27 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Oh, and remote tech workers in general, which.. guilty.
posted by supercres at 10:28 AM on September 23, 2021
posted by supercres at 10:28 AM on September 23, 2021
Seattle:...developers
I'll just dilate on this as well since I forgot about it. There's a general sense that national-level property development firms are buying lots of single family homes and smaller apt complexes and building very big, very ugly buildings with few resources (no parking, no low income units, no units for families etc) as fast as possible so they can get ROI on a 5-10 year timeframe. There seems to be a rush to build before Seattle's infamously slow city government implements more stringent design and inclusion standards.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 10:34 AM on September 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
I'll just dilate on this as well since I forgot about it. There's a general sense that national-level property development firms are buying lots of single family homes and smaller apt complexes and building very big, very ugly buildings with few resources (no parking, no low income units, no units for families etc) as fast as possible so they can get ROI on a 5-10 year timeframe. There seems to be a rush to build before Seattle's infamously slow city government implements more stringent design and inclusion standards.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 10:34 AM on September 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
Richmond, VA: Wealthy empty-nesters/remote workers/power commuters from Northern Virginia. DC doesn't get blamed for whatever reason, just NoVa.
posted by Vhanudux at 10:36 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Vhanudux at 10:36 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Madison WI: city hall (for interminable red tape around development), NIMBYs/historic preservationists, workers at Epic (for similar reasons to how tech employees are targets in Seattle). It's all true to some extent.
posted by humbug at 10:38 AM on September 23, 2021
posted by humbug at 10:38 AM on September 23, 2021
Santa Rosa - the fires
posted by aniola at 10:45 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by aniola at 10:45 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
In Toronto, it's "investors" with a side dish of "foreign buyers".
In Ottawa, it's "people priced out of the market in Toronto".
posted by jacquilynne at 10:47 AM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
In Ottawa, it's "people priced out of the market in Toronto".
posted by jacquilynne at 10:47 AM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
Salt Lake City metro: Mostly coastal transplants (California is named the most often) to support our burgeoning tech industries as well as real estate investment firms. We also have a high birth rate and our housing supply is not accelerating - the main valleys are landlocked so developers are now building in areas that no one ever thought people would be living in 20 years ago.
posted by _DB_ at 10:50 AM on September 23, 2021
posted by _DB_ at 10:50 AM on September 23, 2021
In Toronto, it's middle-aged homeowners in the suburbs not letting their duplexes get bulldozed for the cause of higher density housing.
(Yes, I've had someone call me "part of the problem" for living in the same suburban house for 19 years.)
posted by scruss at 10:52 AM on September 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
(Yes, I've had someone call me "part of the problem" for living in the same suburban house for 19 years.)
posted by scruss at 10:52 AM on September 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
Greater Boston has the usual suspects and NIMBYs, but also the somewhat unique “culprit” of “billionaire parents of international students.”
posted by Hypatia at 10:59 AM on September 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by Hypatia at 10:59 AM on September 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
Chicago: property developers, zoning restrictions (city hall), reverse white flight (white flocking?) because the suburbs are boring and/or more expensive than the city, finance and tech workers to some degree.
posted by All hands bury the dead at 10:59 AM on September 23, 2021
posted by All hands bury the dead at 10:59 AM on September 23, 2021
Northern Rhode Island: "people priced out of the Boston market."
Southern Rhode Island: Not sure, but probably "people with money who aren't Us."
Newport, RI: "Gaddam New Yorkers."
(TheAdamist, when COVID was roaring last spring, RI state troopers were reportedly stopping cars in the SE corner of the state to identify New Yorkers who were fleeing Godless, virus-drenched Manhattan: fears of despoiling our Precious Bodily Fluids, or some such.)
posted by wenestvedt at 11:00 AM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
Southern Rhode Island: Not sure, but probably "people with money who aren't Us."
Newport, RI: "Gaddam New Yorkers."
(TheAdamist, when COVID was roaring last spring, RI state troopers were reportedly stopping cars in the SE corner of the state to identify New Yorkers who were fleeing Godless, virus-drenched Manhattan: fears of despoiling our Precious Bodily Fluids, or some such.)
posted by wenestvedt at 11:00 AM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
The Vermont it's usually tech workers from various places being able to work remotely in the towns that have decent broadband. It's also people in NY/NJ/CT/MA who have sold their houses and have a lot of money to invest in a lot more square feet and a yard in a place that is significantly COVID-safer than wherever they left. And I'm mostly not complaining because it's nice to see houses fixed up and people moving in to towns that have been getting a bit run down, but it does make property values soar which will long-term be an issue for people who have always been living here (i.e. houses for kids who grew up here) which aren't affordable with many local incomes. Also a lot more apartment-style places set up for AirBnBs instead of being part of the local rental real estate market. Again, these can be great income-generators for local folks, but it's still making it tough on renters.
posted by jessamyn at 11:03 AM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by jessamyn at 11:03 AM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
Chicago also: People with sacks of money who tear down dense housing to build single-family suburban style homes. (Sometimes those are individuals instead of developers)
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 11:07 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 11:07 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
In NE Florida it's definitely investors turning properties in to AirBnBs. It's a contentious issue statewide, so much so that the state is threatening to completely strip localities of control over rental regulation in an effort to bolster AirBnB.
posted by saladin at 11:08 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by saladin at 11:08 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Sacramento and urban NorCal in general: not a 'who' (although natives are quick to blame Bay Area transplants) but lack of inventory. Because
posted by Rash at 11:11 AM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
- Developers don't build (enough, or any) inexpensive housing
- Zoning prevents mixed-use in non-residential areas
- Single-family-housing zoning allows only one house per lot and no apartments (although the laws which locked this in quite recently changed)
posted by Rash at 11:11 AM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
In coastal Mississippi, I hear people talk about New Orleans residents buying around here for weekend retreats and remote work.
posted by skewed at 11:16 AM on September 23, 2021
posted by skewed at 11:16 AM on September 23, 2021
In New Orleans, I heard a lot about transplants from areas with higher property values and absolutely AirBnB.
In the Dallas suburbs, it’s Californians moving in due to corporate headquarter relocations (pre-COVID).
posted by MadamM at 11:27 AM on September 23, 2021
In the Dallas suburbs, it’s Californians moving in due to corporate headquarter relocations (pre-COVID).
posted by MadamM at 11:27 AM on September 23, 2021
I'm pretty sure all of New England blames New Yorkers generally; regarding buying lower income properties up by flippers, it's specifically Brooklyn area developers.
posted by cobaltnine at 11:28 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by cobaltnine at 11:28 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
At least here in my little north-of-Indianapolis suburb, the prices of homes are going through the roof largely due to property management firms buying single-family homes and converting them into single-family rentals. From what we can tell, rent on a home exactly like ours is twice what our mortgage payment is. We are constantly getting texts/voicemails/snailmail from people offering all-cash purchases of our home. It’s pretty common knowledge that those are management companies looking for rental properties
posted by Thorzdad at 11:28 AM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 11:28 AM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
In the Bay Area I would also say there's a strong counternarrative blaming homeowners for fighting construction of new housing, and to a lesser extent (for the same reason) historical preservationists and environmentalists (both of which are often homeowners). This is especially true in the city of San Francisco itself. At this point I feel the blame on tech workers is more happening in places like the East Bay as more and more people (including tech workers) are getting priced out of SF proper.
posted by phoenixy at 11:31 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by phoenixy at 11:31 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
We had a block party last weekend, and the sister of a neighbor -- who just moved here herself within the last year! -- wore a purpose-made t-shirt that said how badly she wants to move here.
Several of us finally introduced her to the fashionably late real estate agent, and wished her luck, before melting into the crowd. :7)
posted by wenestvedt at 11:34 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Several of us finally introduced her to the fashionably late real estate agent, and wished her luck, before melting into the crowd. :7)
posted by wenestvedt at 11:34 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
In Toronto it's seen as Asian investors parking money in suburban real estate that might sit empty for years, local and foreign investors slurping up all the condo development to run as rentals but what doesn’t get talked about as much is Boomers moving their savings out of low interest bank products and into urban homes for their children/grandchildren.
posted by brachiopod at 11:38 AM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by brachiopod at 11:38 AM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
In New Orleans, Californian and Pacific Northwestern tech people who can work fully remotely, and are looking for lower cost of living in a place that is still "progressive" and "cool" (a theory borne out by the appearance of three new Outbacks on my block in the past year, two with CA plates and one with WA).
posted by CheeseLouise at 11:58 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by CheeseLouise at 11:58 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
In my area of Minneapolis for a while, there were signs and stickers that said "DON'T UPTOWN MY NORTHEAST", implying that developers are a problem. Scope of that is probably greater than just pricing issues.
Occasionally I hear the University get blamed (fairly or unfairly), that might be another variation on the tech invasion idea.
posted by gimonca at 12:02 PM on September 23, 2021
Occasionally I hear the University get blamed (fairly or unfairly), that might be another variation on the tech invasion idea.
posted by gimonca at 12:02 PM on September 23, 2021
In the UK generally: lack of affordable housebuilding; buy-to-let landords.
Places just outside London: people from London
posted by plonkee at 12:14 PM on September 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
Places just outside London: people from London
posted by plonkee at 12:14 PM on September 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
SE NC: Yankee carpetbaggers with a lot more money than anyone else around. We explain to them that they can easily take 74 or 40 to 95 and continue south. Isn’t Florida their natural habitat?
Sometimes we find folks from the Midwest, almost always Ohio (?). But yeah they come down here and drive up prices for everything. They work remotely, or are retired, or sold their house in Long Island or Massachusetts or whatever and buy at least one house or condo here. Then complain about how it’s not NY, MA, or OH. And it’s like, man, I know *I’m* not standing in your way of leaving. There’s a bunch of people here from Pennsylvania here too, but they’re not quite as annoying because there isn’t a lot of money up there, comparatively speaking.
[full disclosure: my partner thing is from PA, so trust me, I give him plenty of shit. But he’s also been here for almost 30 years and came down with no money, so. My family has been in NC since the turn of the 18th century so rightly or wrongly I have Opinions.]
posted by sara is disenchanted at 12:17 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Sometimes we find folks from the Midwest, almost always Ohio (?). But yeah they come down here and drive up prices for everything. They work remotely, or are retired, or sold their house in Long Island or Massachusetts or whatever and buy at least one house or condo here. Then complain about how it’s not NY, MA, or OH. And it’s like, man, I know *I’m* not standing in your way of leaving. There’s a bunch of people here from Pennsylvania here too, but they’re not quite as annoying because there isn’t a lot of money up there, comparatively speaking.
[full disclosure: my partner thing is from PA, so trust me, I give him plenty of shit. But he’s also been here for almost 30 years and came down with no money, so. My family has been in NC since the turn of the 18th century so rightly or wrongly I have Opinions.]
posted by sara is disenchanted at 12:17 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Portland: Portlandia (the TV show)
This is.. not even a little correct, and while you say you're not looking for debate, to come in with this quip about an issue that is really, really emotionally charged feels incredibly shitty. Please do a little more homework on this one.
posted by curious nu at 12:19 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
This is.. not even a little correct, and while you say you're not looking for debate, to come in with this quip about an issue that is really, really emotionally charged feels incredibly shitty. Please do a little more homework on this one.
posted by curious nu at 12:19 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
All of the above about Boston is true, and I would add this: just plain hipsters, who think that it's important to displace artists, because money wants what it can't buy, and/or old manufacturing buildings, because it's cool to stamp out people who actually have to do physical labor for a living. Or something like that.
posted by Melismata at 12:25 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Melismata at 12:25 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
In Portland Oregon; Californians as well as everyone else who moved here after whoever made the statement.
posted by furnace.heart at 12:43 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by furnace.heart at 12:43 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
New Jersey: NYC residents leaving the city due to COVID concerns, lack of outdoor space while locked down, and/or more freedom to work from somewhere nearby but not immediately in the 5 boroughs.
posted by rachaelfaith at 12:54 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by rachaelfaith at 12:54 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Small British city: people from London with sacks of cash who can't afford a house within two hours of their job, but due to remote working, no longer need to.
posted by quacks like a duck at 1:02 PM on September 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by quacks like a duck at 1:02 PM on September 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
Sydney, Australia: a lot of blamed on people looking for houses and space after the pandemic but it's really investors taking advantage of cheap loans
Other Australian capital cities and coastal towns: people from Sydney (also Melbourne) who've been priced out of the market
posted by cholly at 1:15 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Other Australian capital cities and coastal towns: people from Sydney (also Melbourne) who've been priced out of the market
posted by cholly at 1:15 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: @curious nu I'm sorry, it was not my intention to offend. Also, I'm doing my homework by asking YOU what is the narrative you have seen. Finally, though this is outdated info, I mentioned Portlandia because there was an (ostensibly) well-researched article a few years ago (when it was still on the air) about the hysterical, overwrought scapegoating of the show. I am here to find out the "truth" (or at least some general trends), because I am someone who is frequently annoyed by the narratives that (I feel) incorrectly scapegoat a category of people that I happen to fall into.
posted by wutangclan at 1:18 PM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by wutangclan at 1:18 PM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
Your list isn't accurate for Portland. It's Californians, and has been for a long freaking time. Much of (western & south central) Washington will say the same, along with most of Oregon.
In the Columbia Gorge, it's the windsurfers AND the Californians. More recently, kiteboarders. Plus people from the Portland metro treating it like a suburb. (I've actually heard people that moved there within 5 years complaining about "newcomers" - it's like, if your grandparents grandparents weren't born there, GO AWAY is what we're pretty much all feeling. (Oddly, that doesn't apply to Hispanics, though, at all. They're fine to move there. They're normal people, not the wealthy who drive the prices up.)
posted by stormyteal at 1:19 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
In the Columbia Gorge, it's the windsurfers AND the Californians. More recently, kiteboarders. Plus people from the Portland metro treating it like a suburb. (I've actually heard people that moved there within 5 years complaining about "newcomers" - it's like, if your grandparents grandparents weren't born there, GO AWAY is what we're pretty much all feeling. (Oddly, that doesn't apply to Hispanics, though, at all. They're fine to move there. They're normal people, not the wealthy who drive the prices up.)
posted by stormyteal at 1:19 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
New Hampshire: "Flatlanders"/ people from Massachusetts who work in Boston and make MA salaries and then come up here and outcompete locals (who are then also blamed trying to turn NH into MA with high taxes and bigger government, etc.)
posted by damayanti at 1:24 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by damayanti at 1:24 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
South Dakota: some geographical (Colorado/“Denver!!!!!”, California, plus a particular political thing about green cards for wealthy foreign investors. But the group I always heard repeated was “retirees.” This was on the west river side of the state, so it’s probably different on the east.
posted by pepper bird at 1:37 PM on September 23, 2021
posted by pepper bird at 1:37 PM on September 23, 2021
Tuscaloosa, Al: College Student Rentals and Football Game Day Rentals
posted by gregr at 1:39 PM on September 23, 2021
posted by gregr at 1:39 PM on September 23, 2021
Chicago: what the other said plus extra special people who after building their suburban style house buy the 3 flat next door and tear it down for a yard. Then sell 2 years later or leave it empty for years because it won’t sell — all leading to less available “non-luxury” housing.
Developers buying “starter” houses, rehabbing them and selling them as luxury homes. A 2 flat on my street sold for $400k and was turned around and sold as a single family for 1.5 million less than one year later. Not only does this house one less family, but also takes away more affordable housing.
Also, people from other cities (NYC/LA/Boston/SF) who think Chicago is “cheap.”
posted by Bunglegirl at 1:40 PM on September 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
Developers buying “starter” houses, rehabbing them and selling them as luxury homes. A 2 flat on my street sold for $400k and was turned around and sold as a single family for 1.5 million less than one year later. Not only does this house one less family, but also takes away more affordable housing.
Also, people from other cities (NYC/LA/Boston/SF) who think Chicago is “cheap.”
posted by Bunglegirl at 1:40 PM on September 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
There's an Instagram on this called vanishingseattle that might be useful for documentation of some parts of Seattle being bought, torn down, and rebuilt. Details often include the names of private investor or development companies and architects that are involved in the transaction. "Amazon" might be a generic reason why said companies are rushing to buy and rebuild, but the focus here, at least, seems to be on real estate companies involved.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:45 PM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:45 PM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
I am in southwestern Ontario and a lot of blame is heaped on Toronto people cashing out and buying more affordable housing a couple hours down the highway.
posted by synecdoche at 2:36 PM on September 23, 2021
posted by synecdoche at 2:36 PM on September 23, 2021
Toronto - Yep “foreign” (read: “Asian”) investors and boomers. Some frustrated millennials actually talk about expropriation. As well, anyone of any age who inherited anything. Also, the Bank of Canada for keeping interest rates low.
The young people excluded from the GTA market don’t care about sustainable development at all, they’d be fine with building more and more and more, into what we call the green belt around the GTA (some of the best/only fertile land in the country, important for ecosystems) despite the lack of infrastructure (adequate watermains). (They also ONLY want in on the GTA or maybe Vancouver, no interest in moving to lower COL areas.)
posted by cotton dress sock at 2:40 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
The young people excluded from the GTA market don’t care about sustainable development at all, they’d be fine with building more and more and more, into what we call the green belt around the GTA (some of the best/only fertile land in the country, important for ecosystems) despite the lack of infrastructure (adequate watermains). (They also ONLY want in on the GTA or maybe Vancouver, no interest in moving to lower COL areas.)
posted by cotton dress sock at 2:40 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
New Zealand: Aucklanders. Foreigners (esp. Chinese foreigners and US foreigners). Billionaires. People coming home to escape covid.
posted by inexorably_forward at 2:45 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by inexorably_forward at 2:45 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Chicago: This answer doesn't quite fit the mold, but I would argue the dominant narrative around here is that rising property taxes is what's making our housing unaffordable. I mean, yeah everybody hates developers, obviously, but it's nothing like how much everybody hates property taxes.
posted by gueneverey at 2:48 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by gueneverey at 2:48 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Vancouver: Yes, "foreign buyers" are the main scapegoat, but "developers building luxury condos" and "NIMBYs blocking densification" are important secondary narratives.
posted by Gerald Bostock at 2:56 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Gerald Bostock at 2:56 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Here in California, it's Californians. In my circles, mostly "those NIMBY people who don't allow more housing to be built".
posted by straw at 4:48 PM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by straw at 4:48 PM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
Used to live in Portland and I actually heard people scapegoat the show Portlandia for increasing housing costs pretty regularly. I always thought this was such a funny thing to scapegoat since skyrocketing housing costs are an issue all over the country - not just in Portland. And Californians.
posted by forkisbetter at 5:25 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by forkisbetter at 5:25 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
East Tennessee: "halfbacks."
People from the northeast retire to Florida, spend a few years there and realize it's hot AF and kinda sucks. They don't want to go back to NYC winters so they end up here, halfway back home. Halfbacks.
posted by workerant at 7:29 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
People from the northeast retire to Florida, spend a few years there and realize it's hot AF and kinda sucks. They don't want to go back to NYC winters so they end up here, halfway back home. Halfbacks.
posted by workerant at 7:29 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
I'm in Seattle-area now and most of the people in my neighborhood are in fact tech workers with their big tech money. They mostly blame Californians for high prices, even as many of them are recent transplants from California.
Before this, I lived in Santa Monica, CA (so, guilty as charged!) and people blamed Chinese investors and developers for prices in our neighborhood. There wasn't any population in the USA that could be generalized to have the cash to afford single-family Santa Monica real estate back then.
posted by potrzebie at 7:33 PM on September 23, 2021
Before this, I lived in Santa Monica, CA (so, guilty as charged!) and people blamed Chinese investors and developers for prices in our neighborhood. There wasn't any population in the USA that could be generalized to have the cash to afford single-family Santa Monica real estate back then.
posted by potrzebie at 7:33 PM on September 23, 2021
Maine: Mass, New York, other investors. People who don't get that it's a rural state.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 7:34 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 7:34 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Seattle: NIMBYs, mayor/council dragging their feet on rezoning for density, “the Seattle process” whereby any good idea is committee’d to death, sucky mayors in general, flippers, Amazon, Californians, tech workers, white hipster gentrifiers, WFH white collar workers moving to the suburbs. Note I follow a lot of local urbanists so that colors the takes I’ve seen. Also I’m a white WFH tech worker who moved to a suburb.
posted by matildaben at 8:19 PM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by matildaben at 8:19 PM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
Reporting from Oakland. There isn't one dominant narrative here, but more of a laundry list. Depending on whom you talk to, you might hear: people priced out of San Francisco; companies that buy up single-family homes and turn them into rentals; Airbnb; Prop 13, because it encourages people to hold property forever; other Bay Area cities, for not building their share; NIMBYs, for reasons stated above; but also developers and the politicians who court them, for remaking neighborhoods to be palatable to people who formerly avoided Oakland; yuppies; techies; hipsters; white people generally; and gentrifiers or gentrification (which might be shorthand for a lot of the above, but it's definitely an answer you'll hear a lot). Oh, and Oakland's inherent coolness, which makes it a victim of its own success.
None of these answers are necessarily wrong.
posted by aws17576 at 8:28 PM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
None of these answers are necessarily wrong.
posted by aws17576 at 8:28 PM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
Another voice from Bellingham, WA here: Californians, followed by Seattlites (and before COVID, Vancouverites), then people fleeing climate change in the SW.
Spokanites blame Western Washingtonians for moving east, as well as Californians. Idahoans blame spokanites for moving in. And so on.
If only we could all direct the blame where it rightly belongs, at corporate developers and late stage capitalism in general...
posted by carlypennylane at 8:46 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Spokanites blame Western Washingtonians for moving east, as well as Californians. Idahoans blame spokanites for moving in. And so on.
If only we could all direct the blame where it rightly belongs, at corporate developers and late stage capitalism in general...
posted by carlypennylane at 8:46 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Used to live in Portland and I actually heard people scapegoat the show Portlandia for increasing housing costs pretty regularly.
Thank you, @forkisbetter! Perhaps the trend of blaming Portlandia was short lived and utterly ridiculous, but it definitely happened for a little while, right??? I’m not crazy! LOL
posted by wutangclan at 9:09 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Thank you, @forkisbetter! Perhaps the trend of blaming Portlandia was short lived and utterly ridiculous, but it definitely happened for a little while, right??? I’m not crazy! LOL
posted by wutangclan at 9:09 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
In Australia, we like to blame boomers and investors for pricing everyone out of the market. For a while there we also liked to blame ‘foreign investment’ ie the Chinese for coming over here and buying up big.
But then the government closed the loophole which allowed them to do it so now we’re back to pinning it on boomers and people from Sydney who are swooping into coastal towns and buying everything with their big city money and their remote jobs.
But you know, if you just stopped buying avo on toast, you’d be able to afford that $4M property!
posted by Jubey at 12:06 AM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
But then the government closed the loophole which allowed them to do it so now we’re back to pinning it on boomers and people from Sydney who are swooping into coastal towns and buying everything with their big city money and their remote jobs.
But you know, if you just stopped buying avo on toast, you’d be able to afford that $4M property!
posted by Jubey at 12:06 AM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
I'm in rural Kent, just about commutable to London, and in the local FB group, London gets pretty squarely blamed - for the houses being built in the first place, and for their being priced so high that locals can't afford them. There are three subgroups within "London": people on London salaries; people selling up in London; and London councils buying up chunks of new estates to meet their social housing obligations.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 12:25 AM on September 24, 2021
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 12:25 AM on September 24, 2021
A more specific data sub-set: southeast Queensland, Brisbane. We’re going through a massive property boom where average houses are selling around $200-300k above what their price was about a year ago. Blame is squarely put on people relocating from southern, more expensive areas (Sydney, Melbourne), specifically from areas that have been in tight lockdown for months now, and are supposedly envious of our minimal Covid lockdowns.
posted by chronic sublime at 1:28 AM on September 24, 2021
posted by chronic sublime at 1:28 AM on September 24, 2021
I suspect there's one just bubbling under in England: ex-pats no longer allowed to stay in Europe buying something in the cheapest places possible, like the rural non-coastal parts of Cornwall. Not sure how much they'll enjoy the social deprivation.
posted by scruss at 11:17 AM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by scruss at 11:17 AM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Jersey Shore:
1. NYers escaping covid (buying a new primary home)
2. Rich Philly people buying/building second homes. Lots of teardowns of smaller or older homes.
posted by scorpia22 at 1:16 PM on September 24, 2021
1. NYers escaping covid (buying a new primary home)
2. Rich Philly people buying/building second homes. Lots of teardowns of smaller or older homes.
posted by scorpia22 at 1:16 PM on September 24, 2021
Milton Keynes (commuting distance from London)
- cash buyers from London
- people taking advantage of stamp duty holiday to buy larger or second home (although this has now ended)
- cash buyers who buy to let
- foreigners
There’s also been a lot of talk of pressure from “the race for space” as more people WFH, lack of new builds and the lack of materials for new builds.
posted by BAKERSFIELD! at 12:09 AM on September 30, 2021
- cash buyers from London
- people taking advantage of stamp duty holiday to buy larger or second home (although this has now ended)
- cash buyers who buy to let
- foreigners
There’s also been a lot of talk of pressure from “the race for space” as more people WFH, lack of new builds and the lack of materials for new builds.
posted by BAKERSFIELD! at 12:09 AM on September 30, 2021
In fact I suspect cash buyers is code for foreigners
posted by BAKERSFIELD! at 12:10 AM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by BAKERSFIELD! at 12:10 AM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by stillnocturnal at 9:58 AM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]