The lack of diversification in employment makes the residents as a whole more vulnerable to the next sector based bust (see dotcom crash).
If there is a larger supply of housing then more properties will be put on the market in such an event. This could exacerbate any fall in prices or result in a large number of abandoned properties which can be pretty damaging to a neighborhood.
We get a sort of similar effect here in Australia. A mine opens in the outback somewhere and prices rise rapidly in the nearest town(s). Then a whole heap of new housing gets built to meet the demand and make some profit. One day resource prices fall, the mines cut back on operations, and suddenly there is a housing oversupply and the whole local market falls pretty harshly.
If you were a local resident who lived there the entire time you would probably be feeling pretty shortchanged by the end.
The correct answer is probably to build some new housing supply but definitely not as much as the peak demands.
The correct answer is probably to build some new housing supply but definitely not as much as the peak demands.
Why is that? It doesn't change the fact that once the mines are gone, they're gone. The value of existing homeowner's investment has been preserved but nothing's been done to buffer the economy or help people pushed out of rentals. It's just transferring wealth to rentiers.
Diversifying the economy -- having an environment more encouraging to industry, not less -- is the right answer.
In the mining example I gave it's probably more clear cut than the SV case.
A whole heap of people are working high wage jobs in essentially the middle of nowhere. The local towns don't have the capacity to replace many lost jobs and aren't the ideal place for all of the now unemployed workers to end up. You don't want a whole heap of empty houses in an area with no jobs.
Diversifying the economy is definitely a step in the right direction and is likely more feasible in an area like SV. On the flipside you've got to be careful that the other industries are valuable in their own right and don't exist solely due to the rivers of money in the area.
The lack of diversification in employment makes the residents as a whole more vulnerable to the next sector based bust (see dotcom crash).
If there is a larger supply of housing then more properties will be put on the market in such an event. This could exacerbate any fall in prices or result in a large number of abandoned properties which can be pretty damaging to a neighborhood.
We get a sort of similar effect here in Australia. A mine opens in the outback somewhere and prices rise rapidly in the nearest town(s). Then a whole heap of new housing gets built to meet the demand and make some profit. One day resource prices fall, the mines cut back on operations, and suddenly there is a housing oversupply and the whole local market falls pretty harshly.
If you were a local resident who lived there the entire time you would probably be feeling pretty shortchanged by the end.
The correct answer is probably to build some new housing supply but definitely not as much as the peak demands.