Brandon Istenes

The US is getting left behind

missing middle multifamily housing built to passivhaus w/ prefab straw exterior panels

construction cost of $120/sf

heating costs @ $0.25/kwh work out to $12/month.

low-carb passivhaus FTW

jfc. that's incredible.

that's funny because urban multifamily per-unit sale value has flatlined since 2019, and was far outstripped by the S&P 500 for decades prior. You'd think if I was rent seeking I would pick assets that generated rents

omg HTF Nicole, what's up, sorry lol

Can you explain how that works? Let's say I buy a property with 20 units for $10M. What is the mechanism by which I turn that into postive return without renting them out? Using whatever assumptions you like about financing, rents, OpEx, and my other assets/income. Any way you can make it add up.

I like Gary but all of the cities he mentions—Mumbai, Shanghai, Rio, Sao Paolo etc., all had massive population growth, highly restrictive zoning, or both. And there's the problem that housing investments only make money if there are tenants. If there's a billionaire buy-up, they want tenants anyway

I want soviet-style comrade fitness propaganda but where the fitness plan is running for office

“We had over 150,000 people trying to get into the program, and we only have 1,000 vouchers,”

The system couldn't handle how popular the program was so they decided to shut the program down. Brilliant work all around

Academics’ and planners’ single-minded focus on making *brand new* homes affordable to the poorest people has been a disaster for poor people’s’ ability to afford housing.

The E-Bike is the most energy-efficient transportation method ever created, even more efficient than walking. It is a societal innovation on par with vaccines and pesticides, and it should be fostered globally, and lifted into prominence.

permit applications (units) by quarter

it's not just approved permitted units that have cratered the last 4 years

new permit applications have also cratered

colleague talked to ULI rep today who said nothing is penciling in seattle or the PNW right now. we're headed for massive rent increases, folks.

my hot take is that there are no middle-aged left leaders because they became adults in the decades during which the left disavowed leadership

Diamond Crystal salt did enshittiflation

At least weekly I am on the fence about going to a social thing, and then remind myself of that paper showing that I will almost certainly be more satisfied and happy if I go do the social thing

Got a gift link?

"You can have permanent affordable housing, but it's gotta be at least a little bit evil"

www.multifamilydive.com/news/hud-law...

The thing about civil war in other countries is that it generally involves *stakes*, rather than just the mass murder of people that disagree with you

Even just at assessed value should be fine—expected returns are factored into the value.

What that policy would actually do would require some careful thought, but I think it would basically force foreclosure sale. It would effectively be a transfer from owners to prospective tenants. Owners take more risk, prospective tenants see upside. Probably not a bad thing for market stability.

I think 50%+ is very uncommon. But anyway it might not be a bad idea. Maybe you could say "city has the right to buy at assessed value" so that there is a nonzero chance it will become public property (no one will accept a 100% loss).

Wow. That's an insanely clean scatterplot. What's the inventory measure? Did you drop outliers or anything like that when selecting metros?

I want a socialist housing discourse where truth matters

rentrentier.com/are-landlord...

Pair programming should be normative not because it's more efficient but because it would make programmers more well-socialized

Personally, I am less concerned if land sellers and landlords make less money because there are more homes or taxes on land value.

The fact that those means rely on market signals does not obviate the resulting justice for the landless.

WSJ thinks rental supply and demand is fake now, ok noted

How much does luxury building matter? The results of this one were a big surprise to me. The question I asked is, are rents high because the new housing that's being built is too expensive? There's a lot of attention on how expensive mark...

I didn't expect this result, but it turns out that peak housing affordability in the US coincided with a time when we were building *more* luxury housing (as a share) than today. rentrentier.com/affordable-l...

A former mayor of Santa Monica says it best: gentrification is too much money chasing too little housing

ETSC: Mutual recognition deal with U.S. will cost lives on Europe’s roads By signing up to mutual recognition of vehicle standards with the United States, the European Union has waved the white flag on road safety. This is not a technical detail – it is a political choice…

This is an INSANE decision by the E.U.

“By signing up to mutual recognition of vehicle standards with the U.S., the E.U. has waved the white flag on road safety. This is not a technical detail – it is a political choice that puts trade convenience ahead of saving lives.”

This will kill people.

I think you should be able to buy a cup of coffee or a bite to eat in America’s urban parks, and that the refusal to allow this is rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of what urban parks are, and what purpose they serve.