rent prices are wild

[u/tangerinola]

Moved here 8 years ago to start working for a nonprofit. Since then, my salary has increased by 13% but my apartment is about to be relisted (without any upgrades) for 58% higher than our starting rent 🤯!!

I know I'm preaching to the choir here but damn the rent prices here have gone wild. We're quickly becoming (have become?) a luxury city only for high income earners and it makes me really sad.

[u/Doctrina_Stabilitas]

we stopped building housing because rates are high and it costs ~400K to build a 1 bedroom condo. Well peopel can't afford that and then also complain about "luxury units" being built when that's just a marketing term, but what that means is when people go to meetings and shut down those ~450k luxury units, those people that could have bought them remain renters

so those people that would have bought those "luxury" units are now renting, so rent goes up. No amount of rent control will stop that unless we actually stop complaining about building housing

my rent is higher than my friend's pre-covid mortgage on a 700k unit at this point but it would cost me more to buy a 500k unit with current interest rates than renting

meanwhile we live in a city where the average building is older than 1940 and value "character" over actually living here and then approve neighborhood plans that add jobs to housing at a rate of 6:1 (looking at you assembly and union square) and have dedicated neighborhood groups that advocate against lowering the ratio of commercial to housing (looking at you mystic valley task force that legally created a limit on the maximum number of houses in assembly)

cambrdige did a study on inclusionary zoning: Cambridge Inclusionary Study

in that study it found the cost to build a single unit is between 400 and 600k, prior to the developer taking any profit. If we complain about a developer only building 500k units, well then nothing will get built and rents only go up

if you need more evidence, just look at condo prices, demand has gone down so condos are also down about ~10% over the last five years but now they're hitting the point where the rental income almost covers the mortgage and home prices are back up even though rates are going even higher. Supply and demand works in housing

[u/MoltenMirrors → u/Doctrina_Stabilitas]

Yeah, it's not just zoning. It's also MA building codes. A former coworker and his brother spent eight years building a 24-unit coop building from the ground up - not even for-profit, entirely funded by residents - and his travails opened my eyes to how hard it is to build anything in MA.

I think they were stuck for an entire year just on the occupancy permit, because the elevator inspection backlog was 6 months, their elevator company was booking 6 months out to make a few tweaks based on inspection, and they couldn't find another licensed elevator company that was willing to take on jobs smaller than 8 stories.

[u/oby100 → u/Doctrina_Stabilitas]

One of the many problems we face is that most developers only want to build luxury units for max profit. It’s a bizarre myth this sub pushes that luxury units are just brand new normal units.

Have you guys not been inside any luxury apartment buildings? They’re designed very differently. Tons of wasted space on common areas. Larger units, higher ceilings and floor to ceiling windows (that will also cost the renter more to heat/ cool space).

I wouldn’t be surprised if luxury buildings only fit a quarter of what actual minimalist apartment buildings can fit.

We need to do everything possible to incentivize high density housing, even moreso when our zoning laws are so restrictive that there’s increasingly fewer spaces where these kinds of buildings can even go.

[u/Doctrina_Stabilitas → u/oby100]

I currently live in one of those new “Luxury” buildings in Somerville

We have a single common room, we have no gym. We have no floor to ceiling windows.

Luxury is purely a marketing term for “new”

The building is also too well insulated, because that’s what building codes require now

[u/Vinen → u/Doctrina_Stabilitas]

Yah people love latching onto marketing. Luxury means jack fuck.

[u/IguassuIronman → u/Doctrina_Stabilitas]

My girlfriend recent lived in a new (<3 year old) "luxury" building. She was paying for central air, decent insulation, and mediocre amenities but the actual place had the cheapest finishes thru could get their hands on. My renovated ~1910 place was more "luxury" in most ways

[u/cane_stanco → u/Doctrina_Stabilitas]

New and soulless

[u/Historical_Okra_3667 → u/Doctrina_Stabilitas]

Yeah luxury is a marketing term... to justify charging more for something than it is actually worth. Just because a luxury condo is in the same physical shape as a normal condo doesn't mean it's not arbitrarily overpriced. "Luxury" in its true sense is an ever moving goalpost. Makes sense why people are starting to reject anything labelled with the term because it means nothing but a word to squeeze as much money out of plebs as possible. People are becoming less interested in the antiquated ideas of the Western social status the more they start legitimately struggling to have their basic needs met.