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fail-deadly- t1_iyxtw6h wrote

Reply to comment by Jaded_Prompt_15 in [OC] Building permits (in housing units) per capita, by state (fix) by born_in_cyberspace

Also, this map bears a striking resemblance to the state population change 2020 map you can find here

https://public.tableau.com/views/PopulationChange2020/Dashboard1?

The states losing population seem to correspond to brown or yellow areas and the states gaining population seem to correspond to the teal and green areas.

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zoinkability t1_iyyfhyu wrote

B-b-b-but the post title "More houses are being built in states with growing populations" wouldn't be clickbaity or try to push my political agenda!

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rustafarionm t1_iz0clw2 wrote

what agenda?

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zoinkability t1_iz0gi14 wrote

“You want to build a house? Not in my state!”

This is a highly editorialized title that is not supported by the data presented (this is starts per capita, which doesn’t measure how responsive the permitting process is to market demand; showing starts per application might get closer).

Such editorialization suggests that OP has an agenda. What agenda? I don’t know for sure but I would hazard a guess that they are trying to paint a picture of some states being unreasonably restrictive of issuing new construction permits, given that title. Too bad they aren’t actually showing data that supports said picture.

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Torker t1_iyyreab wrote

Many people check the price of homes before moving states. I check housing prices in California, would move there if they built more houses. Of course the rust belt is different story.

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rustafarionm t1_iz0bm78 wrote

I live in the rust belt.

In Pennsylvania, for example, the reason why there is such a small amount of actually two-fold (I suspect the circumstances between California, and say the west coast are quite different).

Here is what Ive observed in PA, regarding housing (in the rustbelt, and is the 5th most populated state)

Most of the high demand areas already have older housing from the post war suburban craze. The high demand areas are limited on space and have a plethora of housing available.

This is due to:

1.Consistent decreasing of total population, over the past several decades, prior to the pandemic

  1. Lower cost of living, even in counties with a high populous center.

I know that in the pittburgh area, for example, there isnt much room to build new housing.

This is better, in the long run, as building an older home decreases your carbon footprint, over a new purchase.

However, do to many factors, Allegheny co just saw its first population + in many decades.

Edit. I wanted to also add in, that we have alot of empty lots in urban areas as well. However, our more rural areas have also seen an uptick in WFH employees, who are leaving their former HCOL area.

Often times, new permits are so different by county, that it might be more cost effective do build farther away from your commute, depending on the lax nature of the permit requirements.

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nine_of_swords t1_iz1be2n wrote

It's more likely that permits are used to estimate population growth. That said, the estimates were noticeably wrong with regards to some states. Alabama, for example had a population estimate for 2020 that was over a 100k under the census count, and while the census number was within the margin of error in the follow up survey (which also basically knocked out all of NY's 2010-2020 population gains), it showed that the census count in Alabama leans more towards being an undercount.

That said, part of it might be that the requirement a permit to build house in Alabama might be a little loose in parts of Alabama. I don't know if you need one in Bibb County, for example, and that's part of one of the biggest metro (albeit the most rural part of that metro).

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