It’s not just your imagination if you think apartments are getting smaller while growing more expensive

submitted by magnora7 from washingtonpost.com

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[–]CA_Taxpayer 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Here in CA, there a couple factors causing the high price/small size: 1. It is very expensive to build these days, so high end luxury apartments are one of the few types of projects that have a margin big enough to be worth builders efforts. They simply aren't building anything at all for middle class, and subsidized low income projects aren't really happening, either, due to crazy bureaucracy issues. 2. There is a ton of pressure to increase density in urban areas, so obviously, smaller apartments = more density.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I agree with your points completely, that's well put. Why do you think there is pressure to increase density in urban areas though?

[–]CA_Taxpayer 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Traffic congestion and the fact that most people want to live (relatively) close to where they work are probably the biggest factors. Another is controlling the urban sprawl that is eating up our "natural" areas. Environmentalists say that people shouldn't be living in the places that are prone to natural forest fires or in deserts with fragile eco-systems.