Cities Keep Building Luxury Apartments Almost No One Can Afford

Cutting red tape and unleashing the free market was supposed to help strapped families. So far, it hasn't worked out that way. From a report: Austin is experiencing an unrivaled apartment boom. In 2021 the region including the Texas capital issued nearly 26,000 multifamily housing permits, about 11 units per 1,000 residents. That's more per capita than any large US metro area since 1996, when Las Vegas OK'd new apartments at only a slightly higher level, according to rental marketing firm Apartment List. By the same measure, which is based on an analysis of US census data, Austin topped the 50 largest US metropolitan areas in 9 of the last 10 years. Many, if not most, of these apartments are classified as luxury, depending on how you define it. (Some developments are likely using a bit of real estate puffery.) Buildings such as the Hanover have become a flashpoint in a fierce, often bitter debate raging in Texas, the US and around the world. It's about the best way to shelter this generation and the next, particularly in the most sought-after and expensive cities. Academics, developers and people in their 20s and 30s -- particularly those most active on social media -- have reached an unusual level of consensus. Their solution, supported by a wealth of scholarly research, is simple and elegant: Loosen regulations, such as zoning, and build more homes of any kind -- cheap, modest and palatial. The shorthand for the movement has become "Build, build, build" or "Yes, in my backyard" -- Yimby, for short. It's a rejoinder to the "Not in my backyard," or Nimby, crowd, the hidebound folks who typically thwart construction. Texas is famous for its business-friendly ways, and David Ott is one of many embracing the Yimby approach. He oversees the Texas projects of Houston-based Hanover, which developed the building Young was showing on a recent March afternoon. He says Austin is getting overbuilt, so rents will indeed come down, especially in the suburbs. "It's simple supply and demand," he says.

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