Archinect - News

The housing crisis isn't sparing smaller cities in Middle America

2018-08-08T18:31:00-04:00

Ten years after the housing collapse during the Great Recession, a new and different housing crisis has emerged. Back then, people were losing their homes as home values crashed and homeowners went underwater. Today, home values have rebounded, but people who want to buy a new home are often priced out of the market. There are too few homes and too many potential buyers.

NPR takes a closer look at the impact of the housing affordability crisis in midsized, fast-growing cities, like Des Moines, IA, Durham, NC, and Boise, ID—far away from the usual, well documented housing hot spots of the big coastal cities.

Grenfell-style cladding causes value of upscale London apartments to drop by 90%

2018-04-16T16:21:00-04:00

A homeowner in a housing complex in London with Grenfell-type cladding has been told the value of her £475,000 home has collapsed and is now just £50,000. Galliard Homes, the developer of the 11-block complex in New Capital Quay in south-east London, is facing a £30m-£40m bill to replace the cladding and is locked in a legal dispute over who should pay.

The New Capital Quay development—home to about 2,000 residents—is believed to be the largest private development to have flammable cladding after the 2017 Grenfell fire tragedy that killed 71 people, The Guardian reports. The apartments are now considered unsellable.

Japan's disposable housing culture

2018-03-22T13:48:00-04:00

[...] the value of the average Japanese house depreciates to zero in 22 years. (It is calculated separately from the land, which is more likely to hold its value.) Most are knocked down and rebuilt. Sales of new homes far outstrip those of used ones, which usually change hands in the expectation that they will be demolished and replaced. In America and Europe second-hand houses accounted for 90% of sales and new-builds for 10% in 2017. In Japan the proportions are the other way around.

The Economist article describes Japan’s throwaway housing culture as a phenomenon that is not only a burden on the national economy and the environment but also does not see renovation and refurbishment of existing structures as an appreciation in value.

There are exceptions of course: one rare example of an upgraded old structure is this Kyoto guest house makeover by B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio, published on Archinect earlier this month.

The high costs of high urban property values

2015-04-09T19:18:00-04:00

The costs of this misfiring property market are huge, mainly because of their effects on individuals. High housing prices force workers towards cheaper but less productive places. [...] Tot up these costs in lost earnings and unrealised human potential, and the figures become dizzying. Lifting all the barriers to urban growth in America could raise the country’s GDP by between 6.5% and 13.5%, or by about $1 trillion-2 trillion.