Here is another downtown boom that is not doing as well as expected. Housing prices are falling everywhere, but more in the downtown area than in the rest of the region.
Bob Poole points out that the National Surface Transportation Policy Commission is only one of two commissions that Congress created to study transportation issues. The other deals with infrastructure finance, and it put out an interim report that takes a serious look at a wide range of alternative funding mechanisms. The commission invites comments on their work to date.
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Meanwhile, opponents of real solutions to congestion have to reach pretty far to argue against them. We can’t let “foreign dollars come in and buy infrastructure in this country that American people put down.” Why not, if it will reduce congestion? “The nation long ago settled that roads are public goods.” Yes, and look at how well that worked (hint: congested, falling apart, underfunded).
from May 2007
http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2007/05/twin_cities_condo_market_hits.php
Are you a fan of downtown living? Real New York-style lofts with floor-to-ceiling windows and solid-core doors? Have you heard that there are units available, right now, in the city of Minneapolis?
Here’s the good news, as told by the Minnesota Area Association of Realtors:
* There are 612 condo units currently listed for sale in downtown Minneapolis (and another 789 in the rest of the city).
* So far in 2007, 123 downtown units have been sold–a 69 percent drop-off from last year.
* Sellers are collecting a falling percentage of their original asking price, and units are staying on the market for longer. The average is now six months.
From the LA Times article:
Downtown developers…(say) there are too many people working downtown and not enough places for them to live. Traffic gets worse every year, they point out, which will drive up demand for housing closer to where people work.
When will the Antiplanner begin mocking developers for saying such things?
“Here is another downtown boom that is not doing as well as expected. Housing prices are falling everywhere, but more in the downtown area than in the rest of the region.”
Yes, that’s for apartments costing $400K. Even in the UK, where house prices are high, you can get a 3-bed house for that. I suspect though, what with house foreclosures and all that, that the $200K apartment market (retail and rental) is doing very well indeed.
“Extending DC’s MetroRail to Dulles Airport may or may not be dead, but it is definitely a boondoggle.”
BRT is probably better, if you’ve got the road space, and if it’s done properly (i.e. concrete where it is required, as buses eat tarmac).
“Meanwhile, opponents of real solutions to congestion have to reach pretty far to argue against them. We can’t let “foreign dollars come in and buy infrastructure in this country that American people put down.†Why not, if it will reduce congestion? “The nation long ago settled that roads are public goods.†Yes, and look at how well that worked (hint: congested, falling apart, underfunded).”
Privatisation can work well, where innovation is possible. However, I think some of the opponents of the scheme have a point. The M6 toll road in the UK was built with private money, as a choice for people driving on the parallel M6. The company took a risk, and may make some money for themselves and their investors. With existing roads, there’s no risk, and the public purse (with lower loan costs) can do the job cheaper and better. Plus, with any project like privatisation, the government official responsible had jolly well better deliver the right outcome. Hence, often public assets are sold off cheaply, to make sure they sell. The rolling stock companies in the UK are a good example. When the railways were privatised, the old British Rail trains were sold to holding companies, who made massive profits instantly. All of the privatisations were like this, with massive oversubscription, and overnight inflation of stock value.
SPRAWL SOLUTIONS
Wixom building up, not out, to handle growth
BY CHRISTY ARBOSCELLO • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • March 14, 2008
Wixom is creating city life in its suburban backyard to attract potential residents who may eye homes elsewhere.
In an area along Pontiac Trail, there is a cluster of townhouses, condos and a commercial building.
The structures are stacked in two and three stories, with parking on the streets behind them.
This is Wixom’s answer to luring people downtown and reducing a half century of sprawl in southeastern Michigan.
“It’s locating density in an attractive place where people want to live,” said Jim Clarke, president of Robertson Brothers in Bloomfield Hills, which has worked on the first phase of a $210-million project with developer Larry Cohen. The second phase of development is set to kick off this year*.
DS
*http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080314/NEWS04/803140414
“The nation long ago settled that roads are public goods.â€Â
Based on what? I see all sorts of private-public partnerships sprouting up to build new roads. More so not only are some government bodies selling their roads, they’re even selling their airports. Which is nothing crazy as other Western countries have already gone down this path.
Roads aren’t really public goods. While they’re somewhat non-excludable (although, there are toll roads that exclude), they’re certainly not non-rival, as the consumption of roads by other people clearly affects one person’s consumption (see: congestion, wear and tear, accidents, etc.).
may 2007 – Chicago
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=24977
Buyers signed contracts for 1,207 downtown condos and townhomes in the quarter, a 46% plunge from 2,243 in the year-earlier period, according to a report by Appraisal Research Counselors, a Chicago-based real estate consulting firm.
It was the seventh straight quarter of declining sales and the biggest quarterly percentage drop so far.
An additional unit of a market good is worth producing only as long as at least one individual alone is willing to pay at least the cost of producing another. In contrast, a public good is worth producing as long as all individuals together are willing to pay the cost of producing another unit.
Roads are not public goods. It’s a good phrase to contrast market solutions to problems that markets have problems solving, even if the phrase isn’t 100% accurate, as the Farley & Daly paper elaborate upon.
DS
If Mr. Cox calls the Dulles rail project a boondoggle, then in reality it must be very practical & viable project over all.
AP wrote:
“Here is another downtown boom that is not doing as well as expected. Housing prices are falling everywhere, but more in the downtown area than in the rest of the region.
LA downtown is hardly unique in this respect; seven years of cheap money and subsidized lending risk has resulted in malinvestment in real estate of all classes. Only time will tell if LA’s loft scene has real roots or is a hothouse rose. It doesn’t help that “Smart Growth” Mayor Villaraigosa, who has committed the city to a policy of increasing density through policy and subsidies, is looking at a $500 million budget deficit.
AP wrote:
“Bob Poole points out that the National Surface Transportation Policy Commission is only one of two commissions that Congress created to study transportation issues.”
Did you read the Commissioners’ bios? No wonder transportation policy at the federal level is incoherent.
“Pricing to drive down traffic may make market sense, but it harms the public.”
Who exactly does Rep. Mica believe is participating in markets? And who is the public?