• DaveMA
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    5 months ago

    Haha I guess the house itself isn’t the differentiating point, it’s the section it’s on, so maybe ‘houses’ is right.

    Land is super expensive at the moment (you know, over the last generation or so), so it makes sense that minimising the land use means higher profits for developers. In theory, actions like Auckland have done should make land more available and therefore cheaper (supply and demand), but there is probably a factor of where new builds are going too. It makes sense to build houses where people want to live, but this means higher demand for the space which means higher density housing makes sense.

    • liv
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      5 months ago

      It totally makes sense in our cities. I think the investment part is sort of warping things a bit outside that. It’s really noticeable in new builds in coastal towns where many of them are holiday homes that sit empty a lot and there’s still plenty of land. I know a town that has under 60% occupancy and all the new parts have that big house to land ratio.

      • DaveMA
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        5 months ago

        I don’t get out much so I haven’t noticed developments in holiday destinations! Maybe people don’t want a big lawn in a holiday home, because they won’t be around to mow it?

        • liv
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          5 months ago

          I only notice because I drive through these places on my way to visit family. The area I grew up has sort of turned into a bit of a resort area. It’s kind of sad because a bunch of the family houses are vacant and the area’s locals find it difficult to get housing.

          Maybe people don’t want a big lawn, true. It might be a cultural shift because they are less active with boats or outdoor stuff than when we were kids? The lawns and maintenance gets done by contractors and there are also companies that manage your bach if you want to put it on air bnb.