Tuesday, July 1, 2025
News Wave
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • World
  • USA
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Technology
News Wave
  • Home
  • World
  • USA
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Technology
No Result
View All Result
News Wave
No Result
View All Result
Home Business

The Great Compression – The New York Times

21 February 2024
in Business
0 0
The Great Compression – The New York Times
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter



<p>Robert Lanter lives in a 600-square-foot house that can be traversed in five seconds and vacuumed from a single outlet. He doesn’t have a coffee table in the living room because it would obstruct the front door. When relatives come to visit, Mr. Lanter says jokingly, but only partly, they have to tour one at time. Each of these details amounts to something bigger, for Mr. Lanter’s life and the U.S. housing market: a house under $300,000, something increasingly hard to find. That price allowed Mr. Lanter, a 63-year-old retired nurse, to buy a new single-family home in a subdivision in Redmond, Ore., about 30 minutes outside Bend, where he is from and which is, along with its surrounding area, one of Oregon’s most expensive housing markets. Mr. Lanter’s house could easily fit on a flatbed truck, and is dwarfed by the two-story suburban homes that prevail on the blocks around him. But, in fact, there are even smaller homes in his subdivision, Cinder Butte, which was developed by a local builder called Hayden Homes. Some of his neighbors live in houses that total just 400 square feet — a 20-by-20-foot house attached to a 20-by-20-foot garage. This is not a colony of “tiny houses,” popular among minimalists and aesthetes looking to simplify their lives. For Mr. Lanter and his neighbors, it’s a chance to hold on to ownership. Mr. Lanter, who is recently divorced, came back to central Oregon from a condominium in Portland only to discover that home prices had surged beyond his reach. He has owned several larger homes over the years and said he began his recent search looking for a three-bedroom house. “I did not want to rent,” he said after a five-minute tour of his “media room” (a small desk with a laptop) and bedroom (barely fits a queen). After being an owner for 40 years, the idea of being a tenant felt like a backslide. And after living on the 17th floor of a Portland condominium, he had ruled out attached and high-rise buildings, which he described as a series of rules and awkward interactions that made him feel as though he never really owned the place. There was the time he sold a sofa and the front desk attendant scolded him for moving it down the elevator without alerting management a day in advance. Or the times he came home to find someone parked in the spot he owned and paid property taxes on. Try to imagine a random driver parking in a house’s driveway, he said — there’s no way. A single-family home means “less people’s hands in your life,” Mr. Lanter said. He wanted the four unshared walls of the American idyll, even if those walls had minimal space between them and were a couch length from his neighbor. </p> <p>A Chance at Ownership Several colliding trends — economic, demographic and regulatory — have made smaller units like Mr. Lanter’s the future of American housing, or at least a more significant part of it. Over the past decade, as the cost of housing exploded, home builders have methodically nipped their dwellings to keep prices in reach of buyers. The downsizing accelerated last year, when the interest rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage reached a two-decade high, just shy of 8 percent. Mortgage rates have fallen since, and sales, especially of new homes, are beginning to thaw from the anemic pace of last year. Even so, a move toward smaller, affordable homes — in some cases smaller than a studio apartment — seems poised to outlast the mortgage spike, reshaping the housing market for years to come and changing notions of what a middle-class life looks like. “This is the front end of what we are going to see,” said Ken Perlman, a managing principal at John Burns Research and Consulting. Extremely small homes have long been an object of curiosity and fodder for internet content; their tight proportions seem to say large things about their occupants. On social media and blogs, influencers swipe at American gluttony and extol the virtues of a life with less carbon and clutter than the standard two-car suburb. Now, in the same way décor trends make their way from design magazines to Ikea, mini homes are showing up in the kinds of subdivisions and exurbs where buyers used to travel for maximum space. The shift is a response to conditions that are found in cities across America: Neighborhoods that used to be affordable are being gentrified, while new condominiums and subdivisions mostly target the upper end of the market, endangering the supply of “starter homes” in reach of first-time buyers. That developers are addressing this conundrum with very small homes could be viewed as yet another example of middle-class diminishment. But buyers say it has helped them get on the first rung of the housing market. “They should help out more people that are young like us to buy houses,” said Caleb Rodriguez, a 22-year-old in San Antonio. Mr. Rodriguez recently moved into a new community outside San Antonio called Elm Trails, which was developed by Lennar Corporation, one of the country’s largest homebuilders. His house sits in a line of mini dwellings, the smallest of which is just 350 square feet. On a recent evening after work, neighbors were walking dogs and chatting along a row of beige, gray and olive-green two-story homes of the same shape. The development has a pond where residents picnic and catch bass and catfish. The houses do not have garages, and their driveways are wide enough for one vehicle or two motorcycles — proportions that pushed the sale prices to well under $200,000. “I wanted to own, and this was the cheapest I could get,” said Mr. Rodriguez, who moved in this month and works at a poultry processing plant in nearby Seguin, Texas. He paid $145,000 and hopes the house can be a step toward wealth building. Maybe in a few years he will move and rent it out, Mr. Rodriguez said. Homes under 500 square feet are not taking over anytime soon: They are less than 1 percent of the new homes built in America, according to Zonda, a housing data and consulting firm. Even Mr. Lanter, who evangelizes about his newly low heating bill and the freedom of shedding stuff, said he would have preferred something bigger, around 800 square feet, if he could find it. While these floor plans might be an edge-case offering reserved for certain kinds of buyers — “Divorced … divorced … really divorced,” Mr. Lanter said as he pointed to the small homes around him — they are part of a clear trend. Various surveys from private consultants and organizations like the National Association of Home Builders, along with interviews with architects and developers, all show a push toward much smaller designs. “Their existence is telling,” said Ali Wolf, chief economist of Zonda. “All the uncertainty over the past few years has just reinforced the desire for homeownership, but land and material prices have gone up too much. So something has to give, and what builders are doing now is testing the market and asking what is going to work.” Builders are substituting side yards for backyards, kitchen bars for dining rooms. Suburban neighborhoods have seen a boom in adjoined townhouses, along with small-lot single family homes that often have shared yards and no more than a few feet between them — a kind of mash-up of the suburb and the urban rowhouse. The great compression is being encouraged by state and local governments. To reduce housing costs, or at least keep them from rising so fast, governments around the country have passed hundreds of new bills that make it easier for builders to erect smaller units at greater densities. Some cities and states — like Oregon — have essentially banned single-family zoning rules that for generations defined the suburban form. These new rules have been rolled out gradually over years and with varying degrees of effectiveness. What has changed recently is that builders are much more willing to push smaller dwellings because they have no other way to reach a large swath of buyers. “There is a market opportunity and people are using it,” said Michael Andersen, a senior researcher at Sightline Institute, a Seattle think tank focused on housing and sustainability. A Big House on a Little Lot American homes have long been larger on average than those in other developed countries. For most of the past century, the country’s</p> <p> &hellip;</p>



Source link

Loading spinner
Tags: CompressionGreatTimesYork
Previous Post

Tory and SNP MPs walk out of Commons in protest at Speaker in Gaza ceasefire vote

Next Post

I Tried 3 AI Headshot Generators, 1 Might Work for LinkedIn

Related Posts

What Are the 5 Best Pipeline Stocks to Buy Right Now?
Business

What Are the 5 Best Pipeline Stocks to Buy Right Now?

by My News Wave
30 June 2025
0

The pipeline sector presents a compelling investment opportunity with high yields and stable growth, particularly as natural gas demand surges due to LNG exports and AI data centers. Notable stocks in this space include Energy Transfer, Enterprise Products Partners, Western Midstream, The Williams Companies, and Genesis Energy, each offering unique advantages, with Energy Transfer significantly increasing its growth capital expenditure to enhance natural gas infrastructure. Explain It To Me Like I'm 5: The pipeline sector...

Read more
Did Nike's Turnaround Just Begin?
Business

Did Nike's Turnaround Just Begin?

by My News Wave
30 June 2025
0

Nike (NYSE: NKE) experienced a significant 16% stock surge following its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report, marking its largest one-day gain in several years. Despite a 12% revenue decline to $11.1 billion and a drop in earnings per share to $0.14, the company exceeded expectations, particularly with its optimistic guidance for the upcoming fiscal year. Explain It To Me Like I'm 5: Nike's stock went up a lot after they shared news that made people think...

Read more
Why Robinhood Stock Is Soaring Today
Business

Why Robinhood Stock Is Soaring Today

by My News Wave
30 June 2025
0

Shares of Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) surged 12.1% on Monday, coinciding with a 0.3% increase in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. The rise follows Robinhood's announcement of launching commission-free tokenized trading in the E.U., enabling customers to trade over 200 U.S. stocks and ETFs, including Nvidia and Apple, outside traditional trading hours. Explain It To Me Like I'm 5: Robinhood's stock is going up because they are letting people in Europe trade American stocks...

Read more
Why Palantir Technologies Charged Higher on Monday
Business

Why Palantir Technologies Charged Higher on Monday

by My News Wave
30 June 2025
0

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) saw its stock surge by 5.4% on Monday, following a previous rally to an all-time high, as investors reacted positively to a new business catalyst announced by the company. The AI software and data mining specialist had previously given back some gains but regained momentum in the market. Explain It To Me Like I'm 5: Palantir Technologies' stock went up a lot this week because people are excited about new things...

Read more
2 Dividend Stocks to Buy and Never Sell
Business

2 Dividend Stocks to Buy and Never Sell

by My News Wave
30 June 2025
0

Investing in dividend stocks is appealing due to their potential for strong long-term returns, but not all dividend-paying companies are worthwhile. Johnson & Johnson, despite challenges like stagnant revenue growth, ongoing lawsuits, and regulatory pressures affecting drug pricing, remains a solid candidate for income-seeking investors, alongside Merck. Explain It To Me Like I'm 5: Investing in dividend stocks like Johnson & Johnson and Merck can be smart because they often make money and raise the...

Read more
Social Security's 2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Could Be Compromised for This Reason
Business

Social Security's 2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Could Be Compromised for This Reason

by My News Wave
30 June 2025
0

Millions of older Americans rely on Social Security, with many depending on it as their primary income source, making annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) crucial for maintaining purchasing power. These COLAs are directly linked to inflation rates, increasing benefits when inflation rises, while remaining stable when inflation does not change or decreases. Explain It To Me Like I'm 5: Many older people get money from Social Security, which helps them buy things they need, and sometimes...

Read more
News Wave

News Summarized. Time Saved. Bite-sized news briefs for busy people. No fluff, just facts.

CATEGORIES

  • Africa
  • Asia Pacific
  • Australia
  • Business
  • Canada
  • Entertainment
  • Europe
  • India
  • Middle East
  • New Zealand
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • UK
  • USA
  • World

LATEST NEWS STORIES

  • The best ereaders for 2025
  • More than 300 charged in $14.6 billion health care fraud schemes takedown, Justice Department says
  • US-backed Gaza aid fund may be “complicit” in war crimes | Israel-Palestine conflict
  • About Us
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2025 News Wave
News Wave is not responsible for the content of external sites.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • World
  • USA
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Technology

Copyright © 2025 News Wave
News Wave is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In