- Midway Acquires Adjacent Sheraton Hotel To Grow CityCentre Footprint [Prime Property]
- Houston Hits Housing Hurdle as Land Ready for Construction Limited [Wall Street Journal ($)]
- Aging Population Driving Growth for Some Houston Businesses [Houston Business Journal]
- Lessons in Traffic Planning from Houston’s Grid-Like Rail Expansion [Walkable DFW]
- Galveston Park Board Wants Free Parking, Reserved Spots for Lifeguards on Seawall [Houston Chronicle]
- Double Decker Tour Buses Have Arrived in Houston [Houstonia Magazine]
- The Unexpected Wildlife Calling Memorial Park Home [The Texican]
- Touring the Ship Channel on the M/V Sam Houston [Houstonia Magazine]
- 100 Ideas for Making Houston a More Livable, Sustainable Place [100 [D]Ways via Houston Chronicle ($)]
Photo of the Penguin Arms apartment building at 2902 Revere St.: Molly Block via Swamplot Flickr Pool
That WSJ article is interesting. Houston is apparently in a bubble that’s not a regulatory or financial bubble but a bubble based on lack of available capital on the housing-supply side, plus a hot jobs market, causing overcompetition for a housing stock that isn’t increasing fast enough.
The last paragraph intrigues me…what could possibly change over the next two years that would actually make the avg housing price decline rather than something more reasonable, such as a decline in the rate of increase?
The “Lessons in Traffic Planning” article is a good read and makes some sensible points – a major one of which is that more freeways can hurt more than help. A different example for that very point is San Francisco. When the Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the Embarcadero Freeway, people were surprised to find that they were actually able to get around better without it – so it ended up being replaced, not with another view blocking double decker but instead with a particularly appealing waterfront. Since then, some other sections of SF inner city freeway have been removed as well.
An asset bubble – that’s the phrase I was thinking of. That’s what it is, an asset bubble.
As far as the last paragraph of the article, after further consideration I do think it is possible to pre-empt any type of bubble bursting (defined by an actual decrease in housing prices, instead of simply a decrease in rate of increase) by using regulations to increase housing stock quality.
I don’t quite mean mandating LEED Platinum on every new construction, but tightening up the standards a bit wouldn’t hurt if it means keeping the ship from starting in the wrong direction.