A note on Urban Living

I've said to many that the times are a changing. Having been a student and practicioner of urban design and city making, I said that land values are a function of transportation costs. When getting in your car was cheap, it spawned the suburbs and mass suburbanization as many could now afford the big house outside the city; the only cost being their time to get there (when gas was under a buck a gallon). With competition for the limited amount of oil production, gas has shot through the roof and so has the cost of living in the suburbs. This cost is pushing suburban values down (not to mention the subprime market over building). So what is happening???

Decreased values outside the urban core (places that take lots of gas to get to);
Increased values in the center city;
Decreased values in markets where over building happened to fuel the big demand of buyers who were qualifying for loans and shouldn't have qualified (not in urban markets).
Increase apartment living costs as many apartments where converted and no new supply reached the markets as developers were busy building condos.

So my recommendation?
Hold your homes in the urban markets. If you are in the market to buy a house, buy small and by close in. People are realizing it takes a lot of money to heat, furnish, upkeep a large home where you use less than 50% of the spaces. Heck, look at all those SUV's they can't GIVE AWAY at the dealers. It pays to be prudent and to realize that the difference between desire and need. I mean, what do we really need? Keep it basic. Keep it simple.

This post was motivated by yet another article in a recent periodical. I provide it below:


Coldwell Banker® sales associates working in urban markets across the United States indicate they are seeing interest in urban living increasing because of the high cost of gasoline. While 96 percent of the 903 sales associates surveyed report that rising gas and oil prices are a concern to their clients, 78 percent report that higher fuel costs are increasing their desire to consider living in an urban setting.

According to the Coldwell Banker survey, the primary reasons for this interest in urban living are related to work commute and energy-efficient modes of transportation:

81 percent cite minimizing a reduced work commute as a reason for the interest in urban living
54 percent agree that access to public transportation is appealing
75 percent agree that the ability to walk to more places is a positive
"Over the past several years we have seen a boom in downtown living all over the country and this is not just reserved to major cities," said Jim Gillespie, president and chief executive officer of Coldwell Banker Real Estate. "It is interesting to note that the study showed that 53 percent of our surveyed sales associates have seen an increased interest in urban living compared to five years ago."

Coldwell Banker surveyed sales associates who also reported they have seen an 84 percent spike in interest for properties with a home office, as compared to five years ago, indicating a trend towards telecommuting.

While the study also found that 64 percent of surveyed sales associates report their clients increasingly look for homes with "green" amenities that could save on heating, cooling and electricity costs, only 42 percent surveyed believe saving on energy costs are a reason for their client’s interest in urban living.