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Comment by volkl48 | Hacker News Reader

You are comparing the entire metro area population to housing units under construction only within the NYC city limits (and the population within NYC city limits is ~8.4 million).

I agree there needs to be a far faster rate of housing development if you want to see housing cost reductions, I just don't think the comparison you're drawing makes much sense.

There is substantial (if also insufficient) housing development going up in NJ, parts of NY outside the city limits, etc.

The comparison needs to either include all of those units, or only compare against the NYC population instead of the metro population.

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> There is substantial (if also insufficient) housing development going up in NJ

Very much insufficient IMO. People are resisting a proposal to build a residential tower at the site of a current parking lot across the street from Journal Square PATH station. If people can't see the need to prioritize humans over cars at that location, we're in big trouble.

A large influx of units devalues similar homes in the same general location. People don't want their home price to drop. They may not have bought it specifically as an investment, but if you buy something for $500k and 10 years later it is worth $400k, you're not going to be happy. You might even go underwater on a mortgage because you only put 3% down for your first home.

I'm not saying it's right, but I do understand why NIMBY syndrome exists. People would be fine with more housing, more skyscrapers, or whatever if their home price wasn't directly affected.

That would be an understandable objection (though IMO extremely selfish and terrible). What people are actually saying is the exact opposite. Something along the lines of "If these apartments get built, the neighborhood will become more desirable for rich people and my rent will go up."

That and all the usual complaints about "it will be harder to find parking", "the streets will become too congested", etc.

Excuse me, but that parking lot is a historical landmark and a cornerstone of the community!

Good point. My apologies and thanks for the correction. I did not intend to mislead.

So, the fraction of existing stock that is being developed is about 2% rather than 1%. Although, I don't know how many of these proposed units replace existing units, so perhaps the estimate was also too generous in the other direction.

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