Why the Increase in Apartment Construction Isn't All Good News

[Warpy]

1. The difference with apartments is that the landlord buys the big ticket stuff

like heating units, appliances, security systems. Downsizing is going to be a fact of life for the foreseeable future, people no longer wanting those 2500+ square foot monstrosities that are so hard to heat and keep clean and maintained. The tiny house movement is the most extreme example of this. Most people will want to be a bit more sensible about things and live in flats or starter houses.

The problem is that starter houses have been underbuilt for too many years, the profit on a McMansion being so much greater. In any case, people with high debt loads from college are probably going to be renting. For them, the boom in apartment construction is probably a good thing, at least in the short term.