Portland is a PR machine for light rail & streetcar

Here are Some Facts About Portland Oregon          

“It must always be remembered how cost-effectiveness works in the public sector: the cost IS the benefit.” - author unknown

Housing

Cost Of Housing

Brookings Institute: “The Supreme Court ... established the constitutionality of ...zoning, which restricts neighborhoods to single uses, in 1926. Yet, these restrictions didn’t meaningfully prevent new building...prices remained close to the physical costs of construction ... starting in the 1960s..We changed from a country in which landowners had relatively unfettered freedom to add density to a country in which veto rights over new projects are shared by a dizzying array of abutters...and housing prices in these areas are far higher than construction costs... https://www.brookings.edu/research/reforming-land-use-regulations/ (Local copy)

Density Will Not Make Housing Affordable

Can U.S. Cities Compensate for Curbing Sprawl by Growing Denser?  (local)

Growth Management Laws are Destructive

Portland Housing on World’s Worst List

Metro: public policy have not made land scarce enough

UW study: Rules add $200,000 to Seattle house price

Misguided land-use regulations push middle class out of King County  

Why housing In Seattle-King County Is “Severely Unaffordable”

Zoning Increases Housing Cost

Why Many Portlanders Can't afford a house

Common Deceptions About Growth Boundaries

Planning Caused the Housing Bubble

Portland’s planning has doubled the cost of housing

Cost of Housing Comparisons  

Housing Cost Studies   

Why California is more unaffordable than Oregon (pdf)

Growth Management and Affordable Housing

House Price Index

National City Housing Price Report (pdf)   local

Cost of High Density Construction

Affordable Living for the Middle-Income (Glaeser)

97213 - one of 10 most overpriced zip codes (Forbes)

Most expensive markets in the U.S. are the most liberal

Rules add $200,000 to Seattle house price   MORE

OECD Study: Housing and the Economy:

Policies for Renovation

How the California Dream Became a Nightmare

Why Portland’s Affordability plan will fail

The Planning Penalty

How Smart Growth Makes Housing Unaffordable

Housing Related

Phantom Exodus Driven by Phony Cost Comparisons

(Big city really does cost more!)

The Mass Migration of New Yorkers to Other States (immigration makes up the difference)

The Myth of the Back-to-the-City Migration   (pdf)

Liberals and Unaffordable Housing: Cause or Effect?

Homeowners in Auckland's fringe save up to $50,000 a year

Updated March 21, 2024

Chart is from 7th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey

High Rises cost 300% the cost of sprawl

Infill Page