IMHO cities need to limit how many large multi-national conglomerates are allowed to build huge rental complexes.
A large % of the high density housing being built around Seattle is rental only, all that does is funnel money out of the city. Residents don't get to build equity, and rental prices keep going up year over year, vs mortgage payments that, except for the property tax portion, stay the same over 30 years.
Also large rental complexes don't build communities.
Someone who bought a small 2 bedroom house 10 years ago and who now rents it out, those people aren't the problem. Heck odds are they are renting that 2 bedroom out for less than what a large corporation would charge.
When they don't come in and build out those large rental complexes those very well paid engineers rent/buy every SFH for miles causing the absolutely insane gentrification we've seen in San Francisco that pushes everyone out.
> those very well paid engineers rent/buy every SFH for miles causing the absolutely insane gentrification we've seen in San Francisco that pushes everyone out.
I used to live in a large, over 100 unit, town home complex.
Central to the complex was a very large open green space, larger than most suburban yards.
Over the years, about 50% of the units are now rented out, typically at a price lower than in the nearby built for rental apartment complexes. Individual landlords prize stability in tenants more than maximizing short term value, also if a person is only renting out 1 unit, that unit being vacant for a month or two is a lot of lost income, raising rent by $200 and then losing out on 4k of rental income due to having to lose then find a new tenant is not something a smart landlord does on a yearly basis.
Prior to that I lived in a luxury condo complex in a very nice area that was again, lots of rental units. From what I gather, soon to be retirees had bought in and were renting the units out until they they needed to move into them. They also prized stability and boring tenants over maximizing monthly income.
The point here is, within reason, today's fancy high end condos are tomorrows reasonably prized housing.
Will the 50 story skyscraper condos ever be reasonably prized? No, of course not, but if someone dropped 150,000 units of medium density housing into Seattle, I bet that in about 5-10 years housing prices would start to come down.
The other issue I have is the absurd number of 4 story town homes being built, which should instead be 4 story condo complexes. Insane square footage is wasted on stairs, and no one over 35 can live in those places, and raising a family in them is either impractical or horribly annoying. (Good for baby gate sales though...)
If it were up to me I'd remove elevator requirements for 4 and 5 story condo complexes in return for having the bottom floors requiring ADA units.
Most small landlords don't do the accounting properly and are losing money; this is disguised by the favorable depreciation and the rapid property price appreciation.
For example, many small-time landlords would have been better off just buying a much more valuable property to live in themselves, than buying one to live in and one to rent. Eg, buy a $400k house instead of two $200k houses and renting one.
A large % of the high density housing being built around Seattle is rental only, all that does is funnel money out of the city. Residents don't get to build equity, and rental prices keep going up year over year, vs mortgage payments that, except for the property tax portion, stay the same over 30 years.
Also large rental complexes don't build communities.
Someone who bought a small 2 bedroom house 10 years ago and who now rents it out, those people aren't the problem. Heck odds are they are renting that 2 bedroom out for less than what a large corporation would charge.