Part of it is also that the costs of construction materials are way up, compared to most of the last decade, so it’s going to cost more to build the same. Then also underlying inflation.
And we’re back to juicing the housing market, diverting capital there, at the expense of ‘less important’ uses, like building and upgrading factories. Go figure.
Just checked zillow for the prop tax on a $330,000 house in the city of Houston: over 9 grand, and that was up 50% from the previous year. If folks bought less expensive, they could save the money they’d’ve paid in prop taxes and put it away for their retirement. Willingly paying that is nuts.
What was one house lot is now subdivided into 3 or 4 townhome/skyrise dwellings 2-4 stories tall per ‘house’.
More tax for the same amount of land. More flooding too.