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pydrytoday at 3:09 AM3 repliesview on HN

If demand for cars skyrockets then you (eventually) get more cars at the same price coz the manufacturer can just make more.

If everybody wants to buy up land because "god isnt making it any more" you get less land at an even higher price which makes it even more attractive as a store in value.

So no, supply and demand doesnt really work for land the way it works for everything else.

Land needs to be taxed a lot to create enough supply and in California prop 13 quite deliberately did the precise opposite of that.


Replies

darksaintstoday at 3:14 AM

Zoning that reduces buildable footprint and/or height artificially increases demand for land. If the only way to build a home is to buy a 9000 sqft lot, then my demand for land is 9000 sqft. If you can build 18 homes on that same lot, my demand for land is 450 sqft.

Land definitely needs to be taxed, but not without the zoning changes first to allow more to be built on less.

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bryanrasmussentoday at 4:56 AM

>If everybody wants to buy up land because "god isnt making it any more" you get less land at an even higher price which makes it even more attractive as a store in value.

Yes but people aren't trying to buy land, they are trying to buy housing, which yes, has a foundation on land but also can increase vertically without significantly increasing the land usage.

BobbyJotoday at 3:28 AM

Land != Housing.