crimsonace
Well-Known Member
Stitch said:This is where the free market fails, because not anyone can just come in and build apartments. You have to get zoning approval and build to a higher standard than current units.
Zoning approval and regulations are the opposite of the free market. They're governments stepping in -- meaning well -- to enforce a "community standard" that artificially inflates prices and deflates supply. It's essentially the homeowner's association with legal powers.
If a company didn't have to deal with zoning regulations, then it could very easily put up cheap apartments designed to last the length of the boom. But having to pay for attorneys to push it through the zoning process, get approval and get the contractors out to build it is a costly process, and if one waits too long, then it's a major money-losing proposition if the boom begins to wane when the apartments go up.