Why are the most blue cities/states unaffordable to working people?

[Herman Munster]

NY, San Francisco, Washington D.C, Boston,.....basically any major city on the east or west coast is unaffordable to a working person. The real estate is outrageous, both in rentals and owning property. And working people are moving out in droves in search of cheaper housing and work, mainly to red states in the sunbelt.

Although, I guess we can hope all this blue outmigration to the south will make some red states more purple and eventually blue, but it may not happen until well after the 2010 census.

here's a map that shows how badly this will start huring us in the very near future.

http://www.polidata.org/census/st005nca.pdf

[adriennui]

1. manhattan is the most outrageous

working people have been dispaced from harlem (which has some of the most beautiful brownstones in NY) and the lower east side. there is no middle class area! there are some gov't housing projects, but what you have is a place for the rich and poor. the formerly marginal areas in brooklyn (fort greene, clinton hill, bed stuy, williamsburg, are becoming little manhattans). the burbs are becoming more affordable than the inner cities.

[RagingInMiami]

3. I was in Williamsburg two months ago

And it is totally yuppified where as I understand it, it used to be working class. My friend pays $1,500 for a one-bedroom apartment there.

And it's happening down here in Miami as well. Big time.

[SeattleGirl]

2. Seattle is really bad.

One of the saddest things is teachers who cannot afford to even live in "middle class" neighborhoods. They have to move miles away from their school districts to even begin to find a place they can afford.

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. Come down to Texas and turn us blue! Raise the wages here also!

:-) Actually, I thinks it's all relative, cost of living that is. Wages are higher in the blue states and therefore, the cost of living is higher, ie, wages in the red states are lower, thus a lower cost of living. :shrug:

[edhopper]

5. short answer,

because there better places to live and more intelligent, successful people want to live there.:-)

As far as affordability. Last summer we peaked in the biggest real estate bubble in US history.
Over the next 4 to 6 years prices will decline 50% to 70%. Affordability will return. Manhattan will still be expensive, but only in relation to the rest of NYC.
Believe me folks no one has seen a real estate bust like the one coming since the Great Depression.

[msongs]

6. documentation for these claims please? nt

[edhopper]

7. Prof Robert Shiller of Yale

The man who predicted the NASDAQ collapse.
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2005/06/shiller_on_the_.html

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. And the places hit hardest will be the spreading red state

suburbs with their 'affordable' mcmansions. Rates go up, and people will find themselves unable to afford the payments, but no one will be able to take the properties off their hands. The price decline will have to be preceeded by a lot of people losing their homes.

[pecwae]

13. Not to hijack

but we were driving around Chatham/Durham/Wake Counties in NC today and I was in tears. McMansions sprawling over beautiful old farmplaces and lush countryside. It was heartbreaking to see the land stripped bare of trees.

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. It breaks my heart. nt

[Yupster]

17. Population going up every year

The people need somewhere to live.

I only have one kid so I'm doing my part.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. Because liberals are generally smarter, more productive and drive a

large part of this country's economy.

Meanwhile, some of the "reddest" areas of this nation are coasting on fumes.

If expensive real estate was going to turn San Francisco conservative, it would have happened a long time ago.

[DYouth]

9. Aren't they much more packed, thus raising prices

because there's less land to spare (and property price raises everything in sequence?).

[edhopper]

10. Here is an article

from the Wall Street Journal showing that housing inventory in places like LA, SD, SF and NY have almost doubled in the last year.
So I guess they found more land.

http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/markettrends/20060721-hagerty.html

See my previous post about the bursting bubble.

[fishwax]

12. That map doesn't show that this movement will hurt democrats

The states aren't color coded by party, but rather by whether they're gaining (red) or losing (blue) seats. Republican states like Missouri and Ohio, for instance, are losing seats. And such drastic shifts in population could easily flip states like Florida, Nevada, and New Mexico to the Democrats. Further, do we really have any idea whihc segments of the population are leaving and arriving in the different states?

[DeepModem Mom]

15. Very good question, Herman -- welcome to DU!

[riderinthestorm]

16. Try Chicago

Affordable housing in a true blue city and state.

And what a beautiful, cosmopolitan city! It's an excellent place to live and work with the parks, lakefront, culture, and blue politics.

[sandnsea]

18. Sprawl management, in part

I know in Oregon our land use regulations make real estate prices higher. Development is just not as easy, it's just managed very tightly. Where I live particularly, most developments also have a ton of restrictions and requirements, so you can't build a cheap place if you wanted to. That creates a shortage of inexpensive housing. Then there's the city and county building codes which I think are higher, and that adds to the whole picture. I think wages don't play as much of a role as these kinds of things, but these are also things that contribute to the quality of life, so I don't know that I'd want it any different. Tough trade-offs. Housing is a nightmare issue for me personally so it isn't a question of "I got mine" either.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

19. Why, because Democrats are evil latte-drinking elitists who hate the poor.

Isn't it obvious?