The Qube Exchange

Harvard Professor Edward Glaeser, who is an editorial writer for the New York Sun, just published an opinion article titled “Fight for Housing.” The article discusses the rise in in the sunbelt population. Over the past several years, cities like Houston, Dallas and Atlanta were among the 30 fastest growing metropolitan areas, growing by more than 800,000 people each. This compares to places like New York City growing at only 2.7%.

The question Mr. Glaeser is trying to answer is the following: “Does the rise of the Sunbelt reflect high levels of economic productivity, the glorious amenity of warmth, or, perhaps, just abundant new construction?”

Even though there are certain cities which attract large numbers, such as most cities in California, the migration to cities such as Dallas and Atlanta can’t be explained by the climate. “Their pleasant winters are offset by terrible summers. None of these cities have access to coastline or particularly beautiful scenery.” Put that with much lower land values (Los Angeles has a median sales price of $585,000 compared to Houston and Dallas at $150,000) and low family income. None of this explains these huge population growth numbers.

So what is the conclusion? These places build vast amounts of housing. “Houston may not have great summers or high productivity, but it does know how to build new homes.Last year, the Houston metropolitan area allowed 71,000 building permits. Since the number of homes essentially determines the number of people in a community, Houston’s fondness for development drives its population growth.”

You can read the full opinion article and the specific impacts this has on New York City at the following link.